Route 2 is more difficult eh? Lucian noted this.While the route was far more difficult , there were more rare pokemon and Lucian felt like taking a gamble so he thought he would try his luck in Route 2 and return to Route 1 if things go south.

Kalmia's request to, as she put it, 'kick this guy's asses' was a request Lucian would gladly oblige. After all, he had noted the look Jacques had given him during his discussion with Kalmia and he didn't like it, not one bit. Lucian returned houndour to his pokeball after muttering "Time to test your metal on the battlefield...", Lucian stepped forward and said to Kalmia "Professor , I would be more than happy to have a battle with one of these other..hopefuls" This would be Lucian's first battle in a long time and, he guessed, houndour's first ever battle. Hopefully our opponent isn't experienced either...

@Pirouette

"Well don't sound so enthusiastic." Claire chuckled brightly as Ralia continued to pester the Snorunt. "It'll be fine, I promise. It's not like a spooky scary bug is gonna get ya, heh." Of course she made that statement just to bother her a little, but thankfully for Erika the professor and Jacques started talking about something. All Claire could think was 'wow this guys sounds like a total sleazeball.'Any good opinion she had about the guy was gone in an instant as she listened. That said, his challenge was rather interesting. She was always eager to show just how fabulous she was.

That said, she really wanted to get started already. She was at a bit of a loss here, so she turned to Erika.

"Hrm...what do you wanna do?" Claire asked Erika. "I kinda wanna get started already, but this guys annoying me. I wanna kick his ass."

"Whatever the competition..." Ren began, a smile smirk making itself apparent on her lips as she eyed the Elite Four member. "Whatever they may be, consider the battle already won, assuming our Pokkemon are on the same level." Ren wasn't normally one to get cocky. In fact, she was often mildly excitable at best. However, the Elite Four member's little talk with the professor made her feel a little bit... odd.

Standing, Ren and Shyn both looked rather confident. There was a certain coldness in Ren's eyes, and a fire in the Flash Pokemon's. "I actually was about to ask if anyone here would like a battle as a means of commemorating our new journey. However, I feel obliterating a rival team would be far more enjoyable and satisfying. Especially after all that talk."

She crossed her arms and nodded.

"I'll take the most competent battler, if that's OK with you?"

❄Erika Olson❄

---

Erika tried to play off Claire's comment but only managed to feign an obvious nervous-sounding chuckle. "R-right... Bugs aren't.. that scary. Heh.", she probably didn't sound too convincing. Erika really didn't want to start her adventure in some bug-infested forest but she was just too polite to say no and deny her first human friend and possibly scare her off.

Thankfully, it sounded like they could push that off for a bit longer as Jacques was promising that he had his own cast of trainers. It certainly gave off a very greasy vibe that he kept that information hidden only revealing it now. Especially when lining that information in the form of what might have been a threat or challenge. Erika wasn't sure which but she was starting to shy away from asking Jacques about her mother as she didn't want to know the answer, assuming he had one of course.

Regardless, this would give Erika the chance to see just how skillful she was in battling and just what little Sno can do. Besides, Claire seemed motivated enough to stay and fight, even adding in a curse word. No, 'ass' wasn't a new word to her. Her mother was a pretty rough character at times and has used it before but Erika had always been so innocent, thus, she expressed a bit of shock on her face when she heard Claire say that word, but resumed a more neutral expression shortly after. "..Hm, I think we should fight. We can't let him get away with this, right? Also, I think fighting right after you get your Pokemon is totally something trainers do... I think. She said with a soft smile, but was secretly hiding her nervousness for her first real Pokemon battle.

The Rhyperior smiled joyfully and clumsily on the floor as Flame petted the huge Pokémon on the head. 'Rhy!' He sounded out happily, very happy to have been able to not scare the Vulpix any further.

Kalmia grinned at hearing so many positive responses to the challenge, the Professor feeling rather giddy about seeing her trainers proving themselves. 'Great~' Kalmia said.

Jacques smirked at Abigail's words, his eyes moving to meet hers with an expression of appreciating her attitude. He picked up a Pokédex-like item, on which he quickly typed a message and sent. 'They should be heading here right now. Don't you worry...'

'Heh.' He then aimed an amused look in Ren's direction after her words. 'Confident. Had I known you existed, I might have tried you out...' He shook his head a little. 'None of my hopefuls have yet to prove themselves more competent than the rest. But, regardless of your opponent, I trust you'll find the challenge adequate... Fu-fu.' He sounded confident as well.

'Let us head outside and wait for them. We won't be able to hold a battle involving eighteen Pokémon in here.' He said, smirking at the kids in approval. He took out a Pokéball and returned the Rhyperior to his Pokéball, the big Pokémon on his belly waving a little to them and to Flame as he flashed back into a much smaller container. So then, it was time to head out on the streets. Kalmia nodded to the trainers, the Professor looking quite excited herself. 'Let's go.'

Assuming you went outside, a group of eight individuals approached after a brief minute. The first of them, noticing the group, immediately ran forward. A short individual in blue who was positively shining with eager intention...



'Finally! I've grown tired of not seeing my opposition!' He spoke, putting his hands on his hips, and his high-pitched voice spoke words that sounded like he was trying to sound a lot more mature than he actually was.

'I am Simon, and I will be the very best, like nobody ever was!' He announced, raising a hand to point at nowhere in particular in the sky above, exceedingly excited.

Kalmia blinked at the kid, frowning a little, suddenly spinning around and grabbed Jacques by the collar and pulled the perturbed Elite Four a meter or so aside.

'You got Simon!?' She asked in a loud whisper.

'I got Simon.' He answered her calmly with raised eyebrows and annoyed he had been pulled.

'You got Simon!' Kalmia let go of him again and then turned forward, breathing out with a somewhat disturbed expression of her own while Jacques adjusted his collar after the rough pull, Simon not having noticed anything at all.



'Oh? … So these are Kalmia's chosen trainers. … Heh, this will be fun.' A somewhat older young man bordering young adult said, looking over the groups with confidence. The confidence was different from Simon's, in the way that he seemed to actually know something. He looked over at Jacques, smirking.

'Thank you, sir, once again.' He said, genuine gratitude in his confident tone. 'You've given me the chance to prove myself against strong trainers right off the bat.'

'Think nothing of it, Rodger.' Jacques smiled sinisterly in turn. 'Hopefuls grow the most when they have a goal to overcome...'



'Ueh... We have to fight...?' The next girl said, with her long hair and casual clothes, except for a notable choker around her neck and something similar on her arm. She looked extremely unenthusiastic about this. 'Pueh... Guess I'll have to...' She said, sounding extremely bored of this despite apparently being on the way of embarking on her own Pokémon journey.

'Pokémon Trainer, Ellyn.' She grabbed a Pokéball from her belt and guided it up to hold with both hands in front of her. '… I'm ready.'



'Ooooh! More people!' A girl with a red-green dress, brown hair in two braids, a small top-hat on her head and a random shovel on her back ran forward and bowed all the way down to the crowd in front of her. Her tiny hat appeared to be attached to her hair.

'I'm Maple! It's extremely nice to meet you all!' She said, eagerly, before standing up straight again, her eyes wide with wonder as she inspected you all.

'Ergh, so loud...' Ellyn complained right next to Maple, her pose disturbed by the girl's introduction.



'Wooo~ More people for the party~!' The next boy practically danced in, excited and with one hand on one headphone. He looked over the crowd and... He pointed at Claire. 'You're cool!' He thrust his hand back and then thrust his other hand to point at Abigail. 'You're cute!' Then at Ren. 'You're cool!' At Erika. 'You're cute!' At Donna. 'You're cool!' And then. 'And the rest of you are guys! Wooo~' … He didn't particularly sound like “being a guy” was something negative, but he had clearly made a distinction for the girls. He spun around on the spot and made a small bow at the end of his... “performance”.

'The name's Joshua. I look forward to seeing more of you all!' He smiled genuinely, before rising again, though the headphones were still in place.



'…' A clear contrast to the last person, this blonde young man walked into place without a word. He looked over at the crowd, but only to confirm that they were there. He made a serious nod as his only greeting, before...

'And this guy's Ewan. You wouldn't know, because he'd never tell you~' Joshua jumped over and started hanging on Ewan's shoulder, significantly overweighting the boy on that side.

'… I felt no need to tell my name, we're going to have a battle and then go separate ways. Besides, this is not a proper time to compare our abilities. Our battle should more rightly happen after we've all been able to developed. As it is, having a battle immediately like this, the winner will not represent our skills.' Ewan defended himself, frowning a bit, explaining his problem with this. He was swiftly rewarded with a light smack onto the back of his head by Joshua.

'No sense. He's got the looks, but he's not playing the game, eeeeh...!' Joshua complained, taking off from Ewan and got back on his own feet, Ewan just frowning and looking slightly inconvenienced by Joshua's behaviour...



The next girl walked with grace in her steps, her clothes and posture implying something about her upbringing. She looked a bit perturbed, no doubt disturbed by the messiness of it all where she stopped a bit away. Regardless, she recovered and curtsied to the gathered people. 'I'm Cathia. It is a pleasure to meet you all.'

'… And now, I'm sorry.' She took out a Pokéball as she looked towards the gathered individuals. 'Because I'm going to need to defeat whoever challenges me. I can't lose this early...' She may have sounded she has a reason she cannot lose. … Still, that's unreasonable in this world.



The last one... came with an annoyed stare looking over the individuals waiting for his group. His eyes wandered over the present, before he looked towards Kalmia.

'Oh.' The Professor made a noise of realization when she saw him. She gave a little smile towards him. 'I'm happy to see that you still managed to get a Pokédex, Oaken~!' Kalmia called, happily. … He glared back at her, unamused.

'… You chose all the members of this rabble... over me?' He asked, straight to the point. 'I don't get it. I've completed every test you've put in front of me without issue, perfectly. And yet...' He frowned, looking over the crowd, those who might feel less confident of their achievements might feel his eyes linger on them for longer.

'I had my reasons.' Kalmia filled in, still smiling. 'It doesn't matter, since I see Jacques gave you one anyway! And I must say, you fit pretty well on his side~!' She said, in a way that might have been a stealth insult depending on whom is listening.

'… I'll prove you made a mistake.' Oaken's eyebrows twitched, and he looked completely ready to battle as he recovered a Pokéball from his jacket.

_

'So, it looks like my trainers outnumber yours.' Kalmia concluded, looking over them. 'So, should we have one of mine-'

'That won't be necessary.' Jacques quickly dismissed Kalmia's words, without even listening it through. 'See, I do have nine hopefuls.'

'You do?' Kalmia looked over the present individuals, and then back at him. 'So, where's the ninth?'

'Hm. So you don't know?' He asked, looking a bit amused and a bit surprised. 'Then, I suppose I'll have to drag her out of hiding.' He said, and then lightly raised his voice.

'Vivia.' … There was the sound of someone stumbling into a bookshelf and all she carried crashing into the floor from inside the lab, the assistant not having joined the rest on the outside. 'Come out.'

Kalmia turned and looked inside the lab, her eyebrows raised with a mild expression of disbelief.

'… You snagged my assistant?' She asked, her voice also expressing surprise.

'I-IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!' Vivia stormed out of the lab, her expression flushed and froze in front of the Professor, her hands raised as to explain a misunderstanding, her glasses ajar.

'I-it's just that I also wanted to become a Pokémon Trainer, secretly, but I didn't tell you because you might show me favour, and that would be unfair to other new young trainers, so I resolved to just being your assistant, then Jacques appeared and he... he...' Vivia tried desperately to explain, wide-eyed and looking quite terrified.

'You snagged my assistant.' Kalmia laughed, still addressing a smirking Jacques on the side, before leaning in and hugging a surprised Vivia.

'Don't worry, Vivia. You have my blessing. You can do as you like with your life. Take this opportunity and make the most of it, alright? The lab will still stand here when you come back~' Kalmia giggled a bit as she embraced her assistant, who looked surprised before slowly calming down.

'Th-thank you, Professor...' She answered.

'I wonder, though.' Kalmia asked, pulling back a little to stare at Vimia. 'He gave you a Pokémon, did he? Don't you already have-'

'THAT ONE DOESN'T COUNT.' Vivia exclaimed loudly before Kalmia could finish the sentence, the Professor staggering a bit as the words came out. 'Ah.' Kalmia sounded. 'Of course it doesn't.' Kalmia grinned a bit at that 'Then, suppose you have to join those over there?' She asked, and Vivia looked a little downcast.

'I-I'm sorry. I swear, I didn't know the first thing we were going to do was attack... If I'd known, I...' Kalmia gently placed a finger over Vivia's mouth to interrupt her words, before smiling kindly at her. 'Get going~'

At this, Vivia nodded, looking a bit regretful at Kalmia before turning around and dashing over to join the rest of Jacques' hopefuls. However, getting there, she spun around, took a deep breath and assumed a straight, competitive stance.



'A-and there you have it! Looks like I'll have to fight one of you now! Be wary, for I won't hold back!' She announced, trying to sound tough but her doubt was still heavily in her words, Joshua smirking at her from behind and several others just giving her confused glances.

… Kalmia threw a brief, wordless glare at Jacques.

'Hey. She's a young, promising soul. I took the chance.' He defended himself.

'Hmpf. Don't I know it.' Kalmia responded. Then... she smirked at you guys.

'Alright~ Which ones would you all like to fight? Want to fight alone or in teams?' She asked, and now for the complicated parts. Refer to the OOC for details.

Lucian strolled forwards after each of them had spoken before his eyes rested on Oaken. A wave of realisation hit him about Kalmia's reason for choosing Lucian over Oaken , a devilish grin briefly grew on his face before he approached the boy extending his hand in a friendly way "Hello,Oaken. My name is Lucian, would you care to battle? Sorry to hear you didn't get to join Kalmia's little team of hopefuls but I assure you" A slight grin once again flashed on his face "Everyone in this group deserves the right to be here. For one reason or another, but I'm sure you will still put up a spectacular fight." The darkly dressed teenager quickly withdrew his hand before Oaken could shake it "having said that, time is money, so let's get this battle going quickly" He turned to the rest of Kalmia's group "would any of you ladies or gentlemen care to join me in beating this fellow and one of his other assosiates?" Lucian asked , as he reached into his pocket for his pokeball, containing houndour.

Before she followed the jacgues and others to outside of the lab, she got Vulpix ball out "Flame, Go back in" she said to curious Flame. Flame didn't look very happy with it, but got to the pokebakk without any problems. Sighing she put the pokeball to her hoodies pocket, she didn't want the trainers to see what kind of pokemon she did have, because she didn't know how many pokemons they have already. She really was afraid that her opponent could have a water type pokemon, and anyone know that fire is weak to water.

Outside of the lab she stopped nxt to the other trainers, glancing at the eight trainers Jacques was talked about.

First was blue haired boy, which looked like a little kid and for her, he didn't look as a strong opponent, even thought he speaked like he was a big deal 'Hmm, What his problem is?' she thought.

Second trainer was like a opposite to this Simon guy. He looked to be a adult and strong trainer, so it was hard to believe that he could be starter as she was.

Third was a small blue haired girl, she looked somehow uninteresting and boring as a person, but that wasen't big as a matter to her.

Fourth trainer was a girl, with cute outfit. She looked like a big walking strawberry and for her she didn't see as a trainer, more like a cordinator or something.

Fifth was very cute looking boy, with blue hair and headphones. He did look like a typical trainer, but how he talked, revealed that he was some kind of womanizer. Donna looked at the boy, little longer than the others, but then moved to the next trainer.

Sixth was a tall blonde boy, which looked little bit of shy trainer, but of couse she could not be sure about that.

Seventh trainer was a somehow a adult looked girl, with big breaths and a self-confident appearance. Listening to her speaking, it made Donna kind of pissed, something about this trainer girl, angered her 'I can lose this early' she thought repeating the girls words 'Well we will see by that...'she muttered quietly, before turning to the last one.

Eight and the last trainer was a silver haired school-boy, he looked somewhat wise and strong opponent. Maybe he was somekind of a leader or something.

Glancing around the eight trainers again, she stopped to this girl, Cathia, Which annoyied her some much. Even thought she didn't know why thought. Sighing she put her handto her pocket where the Vulpix pokeball was "Lose early huh? You will lose to me" she said to her, kind of a aggressive tune in her voice

@PlatinumSkink
@Pirouette

Claire sighed, somewhat disappointed. Truthfully, she had no real interest in fighting these guys. She didn't need to beat up on some random trainers to know that she was the best. Granted, that was probably just her being a bit full of herself, but details details. That said, Erika did have a point. She couldn't let this Jacques get away with such a haughty attitude around her. She was the only one around here allowed to be fabulous enough to be arrogant, heh.

"Heh, alright then." Claire chuckled. "Lets get this over with. I'll make quick work of these guys so we can get moving."

Claire followed Jacques and the others out of the lab. Ralia had been returned to Claire, having clambered up onto her shoulder after being picked up again. It didn't take long for the challengers to appear, and Claire had to say she was less than impressed with them. She didn't know where Jacques found these guys, but almost none of them appeared to have any talent at all. Maybe she was just letting the competition get to her, but only about two of them looked halfway decent.

The first to introduce himself was Simon. Some kid dressed entirely in blue. Well, at least he had a fairly decent sense of fashion, but him being the 'very best'? Pfft. Claire had to giggle at that. Absurd, really. He barely looked like he was barely even old enough to be a trainer.

The next was equally less impressive, though in another way. He looked like your typical sort of...bad boy person. Looked like he was trying too hard to be cool. Claire had to roll her eyes at his introduction. If you really were cool, you didn't need to go around and look like you were trying so hard. At least he looked confident.

Third, was someone by the name of Ellyn. She was one of the ones that at least looked good. Claire had to admit, she'd probably end up flirting just a little if she wasn't about to battle one of these guys. She seemed a bit apathetic about this, but she could sympathize. She wasn't really looking forward to this battle either.

The fourth trainer, was a girl by the name of Maple. Well, She was energetic. Claire would give her that. Looked like a bit of an airhead, but for the most part Claire had little to say about her.

The fifth trainer. Well. Claire almost wanted to drop kick this guy. Something about him, just pissed her off. She had fairly little else to say about him.

Ewan, though, the redhead had to agree with a bit. Their reasons for not wanting to battle may differ slightly, but she could understand. Battling here would accomplish fairly little, after all. In fact, it sort of felt like Jacques and Kalmia were using them to show off to each other. Oh, plus he was kinda cute. Claire didn't say that about many guys, either.

The last trainers barely registered for Claire after Ewan's introduction. If she was going to be battling someone here, might as well be him.

"Hey, good luck Erika!~" Claire said to her new friend with a grin. "Kick their ass for all of us, yeah?" With that, she turned her attention to Ewan, Ralia kicking her legs back and forth and giving him a friendly wave as they approached the blonde.

"Hey there, Ewan! The names Claire." She grinned brightly. "So, I don't really wanna be battling here either but you're cute, so I figured I might as well say hi. Care to battle? Ralia here's a bit more eager than me," As if to emphasize this point, Ralia climbed off of Claire, making a little battle cry towards Ewan. "And she thinks you'd be a good opponent! So, how about it? Lets get this over with and we can go get some actual experience?"

All of these bright new trainers in front of them. They all were willing to pick a fight, and that was fine. Some of them were sour, or otherwise not interested. Most of them were enthusiastic and were overjoyed to fight. Martin had his eyes on the brightest of them all. With hushed whispers from Jacques and Kalmia, Simon was apparently a bit of a big deal. Martin pointed at his next target, who was Simon. The only way to respond to someone with this much energy was with equal amount of energy.

"So you want to be a master? Let's not get ahead of ourselves, when you will get to have your first loss so soon to me. I like your spirit and I'm stepping forward as your opponent. Although, why not make this first fight a bit more exciting? Hey Dawkin, how about joining in? The more the merrier, let's make this a large fight of trainers."

Martin gave a grin. He was jumping with the idea of this happening. He removed his hat and pulled out his pokeball. He tossed it in the air and caught it easily. This could be a failure like earlier, but no way to break the ice like a group fight.


Dawkin had been considering whom he would challenge, nobody in particular stood out to him. He’d just been about to challenge the closest person when Martin offered for him to join in. Dawkin paused to consider it. He had no real intrerest in battling together, as even in the future battles wouldn’t be joint so this wouldn’t give him that not in terms of experience. Still, he’d already made a commitment, though small, to helping the younger boy earlier so it would feel like he was betraying that now. Shrugging Dawkin said, ”Very well then, we shall battle together. I have no preference to my opponent.” With that, much like Martin, he tossed his pokeball a few inches into the air and it landed back in his palm as he stepped forward confidently. This should be interesting.



Standing not too far away, Abigail’s attention had been grabbed by the two boys’ talk of a group battle. As soon as the two guys seemed to have agreed, she piped up with a huge grin. ”Hey, I wanna do a group battle too!” she smiled, and then proceeded as though the other two had already agreed to it without giving them a second to speak. She looked at Simon in confusion. He couldn’t battle all of them by himself, that wasn’t fair.

Looking around for a few seconds, her gaze landed on Ellyn and Maple, right next to each other. Giving them both a challenging look, she pointed straight at them. ”You guys’ll do! Come on, join in, we can make it a -” she paused for a second, appearing to think. ”Uh, triple battle, I guess? If you’re like, okay with that, I don’t want to make you do anything you don’t want to or something.”

Ren nodded simply at Jaques. Her attention shifted from her rival' team leader to her newfound companion, as well as the other non-humans within the room. Many trainers were putting their Pokemon away, probably to make it a surprise for whoever they would face.

Ren found that incredibly confusing.

It was but a simple starting battle. She could understand their want and drive to win, she had it too! But the only person who would really need to hide their Pokemon was the red-haired boy, Dawkin. The type advantage of an Aron would go a long way in a starter battle - maybe Shyn's intimidate could also be concealed, but for now, Ren had other plans for him. She took to a crouch and called his new name.

"Shyn," she spoke in a surprisingly quiet but monotonous, calm tone, "Please come here? I'd like to do a couple tests..."

Shyn was... rather startled by this new demeanor presented to him by his trainer, but quickly reverted to being the... unreliable Shinx he was. He strolled over, still looking rather excited at the prospect of a battle, though curious as to what his trainer might-

Thump!

"Shyn!" The small blue Pokeman yelped, suddenly incredibly angry. It would appear Ren had just sucker punched the poor fellow in the chest, and apparently not as softly as she should've...

"A-ah, sorry, I didn't mean to hit that hard." Ren apologised, looking down at her gloved hand. "Guess I'm stronger than I thought..." A quick squeeze and a simple adjustment of her gaze back to Shyn; she would try to comfort him, but had a feeling he'd understand better through explanation. "I wanted to test your strength. Not that I have any doubts or anything, but I would like to know how strong you are for the times ahead. Why no better time than now?"

Shyn was... oddly receptive and understanding to the whole explanation. He calmed down a fair bit, but still looked livid. "How about I make it up to you with a treat if you win?" Ren offered. Pokemon weren't always the most understanding creatures, however they had a thing for being bribed, or so Ren assumed...

... And that did the trick!

"Shyn! Shyn Shyn!" Yipped the little Shinx excitedly at the offer of a reward. Now he was getting really fired up. "Alright, little guy, don't get ahead of yourself. We haven't won... yet." By now Ren couldn't help but grin, ever so slightly. She seemed a lot more talkative to the Pokemon than to those she had spoken to earlier. The two continued to test a few other things, like how hard Shyn could hit back, how quickly he could reach a nearby pole and back, and if he could both run and use 'Flash' at the same time. These tests were by no means perfect, but they gave Ren a general idea of her Pokemon's skill.

Satisfied, she and Shyn followed the group toward their competition, Shyn somehow managing to climb inside Ren's hood and using it as a vantage point. Then came introductions.

The first of the lot was... odd. A prodigy, perhaps? That was the only reason Ren could imagine the little upstart sounding so cocky. Still, she felt she could annihilate him if she was careful. Even prodigies can be defeated with skill.

The second seemed rather... unique. He seemed to at least have a head on his shoulders, which Ren felt the others might not posses. She wasn't sure about him. She'd need more information..

The third was... a little disappointing, actually. Even Shyn felt so, seeing as he yawned and slumped over Ren's shoulder from boredom. The young woman seemed completely disinterested in the topic. It made Ren wonder why she was even here.

The fourth was yet another oddball. For some reason Ren's mind immediately went to one of the Unova's most knowledgeable dragon trainers, with the childish appearance and whatnot. That said, she likely shouldn't be underestimated. Something told her a facade was brewing behind that cutesy expression and tone.

Number five just irritated her. He probably wasn't a bad person at heart, but that half-assed introduction made her want to strangle the idiot. She felt if anyone among their rivals would prove to be the closest to her, it would, unfortunately, be this idiot.

Six was just an amalgamation of disagreement. Seriously, the boy must've traded wits for charm; his introduction made no sense. Even if he was cocky, even the most hardcore of idiots understood battle experience. Even Workout Girl knew that!

... Well, she hoped she knew that...

The woman in blue, AKA seven, was... somewhat interesting. She showed promise, and a reason. Perhaps Ren could even come to understand this girl...?

But number eight... Number eight really ticked her off. Being called trash wasn't something new to the islander, but it wasn't exactly something that got easier with time. Her hands clenched, balled to fists as he made himself sound so high and mighty. Sure, Ren knew she was a little like that, too, but she wouldn't resort to calling a total stranger trash. Shyn seemed to pick up on his partner's emotional response and flared a glare at Oaken, seemingly ready for a fight, too.

"I would suppose that makes you worse than trash, seeing as we were chosen over you." Ren countered with a cold-hearted smirk and a crack of her knuckles, cracking each finger with her thumb before cracking the thumb with her hand. "Shyn, I believe we've found our opponent." The Flash Pokemon agreed, hopped from the hood to the ground, and entered a battle stance. It was on.

Well, until Lucian made it clear he'd like to battle Oaken, too.

The idea of a double battle certainly intrigued her. More room for tactical decisions and more experience. It would provide the perfect scenario for refining her skills, and to make the process more fair.

Ren stepped forward, hands in her pockets and Shyn alongside her. "Lucian, was it?" She asked as took a stand alongside him. "Ren. I'd be glad to help. If I had to pick our other opponent, perhaps the annoying flirt or the older boy, though that's just because they're the only others who show promise." Her warning was set. Now all she had to do was wait for someone to take the bait...

@Pyromaniacwolf@Delta44

Oaken looked over towards Ren as she made her little quip. He breathed out in light annoyance, before he responded. 'That, or the reason she left me out was different and more personal.' He hypothised, rolling his eyes a bit, and then...

Oaken's eyes wandered to Lucian a he walked forward to speak. The green-haired boy was silent throughout Lucian's words, and Oaken then closed his eyes after the first part was done, extending a hand to shake before the battle.

'I do not doubt that each of you deseve your place. However, I do doubt that each of you proved yourselves more worthy than-' Oaken halted his words when Lucian suddenly pulled his hand back, and he let his eyes wander down to his own empty hand before his stare rose and rested on Lucian, a ”you're going to annoy the hell out of me, aren't you” kind of stare.

'… Fine, then.' Oaken recovered a Pokéball, glaring forward at them. 'I accept your challenge.'

'Looks like soneone's going to need to support you today, Oaken.' Rodger went up beside Oaken, grinning with a hand on his hip, clearly ready to fight. 'Today it'll be me. I'm interested in these two, myself.'

'Hmpf.' Oaken was still full of his annoyance from just earlier. 'Very well. Don't get in my way.'

'Same to you.' Rodger replied immediately, recovering his own Pokéball and the two capable-looking young men prepared to battle side by side.

'Alright. Let's delay this no longer.' Oaken said, spinning his Pokéball on a finger a little before throwing it. It spun through the air, and hit the ground with a decisive bump before the Pokéball opened and a Pokémon came out. After the flash, a blue shape took form, and...

'Horsea!' A high-pitched chirp sounded out as a Pokémon came out, looking intently forward where it currently hovered in the air a little above the surface in a small, blue orb...





(A special note about fish-like Water-Pokémon that obviously can't exist on land. In order to allow them to fight as normal, I am going to use 3D Pokémon logic and say the Pokémon are somehow floating in mid-air. This will be assumed to be some effect provided by the Pokéballs, depicted as a blue orb around the Pokémon. They won't be able to lift over their determined height and their speed will be what is deemed appropriate after inspecting each Pokémon's speed stat. No other Pokémon will be affected by this, a tackle will not have to go through a shield of water before impact. Of course, if the battle actually takes place in water, normal logic will apply and the Water-Pokémon will likely have the advantage. In any case.)

'And here's mine. C'mon, Champ! Let's do this!' Rodger looked excited as he threw his Pokéball into the ground, and a Pokémon quickly revealed itself, a purple humanoid creature that stood crouched over, ready for combat.

'Tyrogue!' The creature sounded out, frowning and eager for combat.





'Alright! Our first battle, Champ! Let's begin our training, little guy!' Rodger made a determined fist and called out to his Pokémon, who exteneded his hands into the sky to show how ready he was. 'Tyrogue!'

'… Hmpf.' Oaken had no such encouraging words for Horsea, the floating Pokémon actually flinching a little from the sound of his trainer making a noise. The Horsea looked determined to fight, but also a bit frightened.

___________

@Pink Madness

Cathia recoiled a little when Donna approached, almost as if she was frightened by her. Cathia took a moment to pause, take a deep breath, and then refocus on her opponent. '… If I may. I am Cathia. What is your name?' She asked, politely but with an edge, looking forward at her.

'And... we'll see.' The girl replied, holding a Pokéball out on her side ready to throw.

'This is our first fight...' Cathia held a Pokéball close to her chin and closed her eyes, looking like she was praying for a few moments... before refocusing on Donna and throwing the Pokéball. 'Go, Flabébé!'

And out of the Pokéball came a small, white being sitting on red flower, smiling ever so happily against it's opposition. 'Flaaa~!'





'Alright...' Cathia said, standing behind the Pokémon flying in mid-air. 'We'll prove ourselves, Flabébé.' She encouraged her Pokémon, and it just smiled so widely. 'Flabébé~!'

___________

@Rune_Alchemist

Ewan had remained watching the others as different challenges had been issued, but his attention turned to Claire when it became clear she would talk to him. He kept silent and staring at her, showing no particular reaction to her words to begin with. The same could not be said about the guy next to him.

'WOAH! She approached him first, and she called him cute, she called him cute!' Joshua threw his hands up into the air and looked positively amazed. 'There's hope for him yet!'

Ewan made a wise decision and completely ignored Joshua, nodding to Claire.

'Very well. I'll battle you. Claire, Ralia.' He answered the two with a resolute voice, and produced his Pokéball from the side, while Joshua inspected from the side.

Without another word, Ewan dropped his Pokéball and a brown Pokémon that was low to the ground showed up, looking forward with curious (closed?) eyes.

'Swinub?' The odd Pokémon asked.





Ewan crouched down beside his Pokémon, the Pokémon turning to look at his trainer.

'… Sven. This is Claire, and that is Ralia. They've requested we battle them. Are you willing?' Ewan asked his Pokémon. Sven looked forward at the opponents again, before...

'… Swiiiiiinub!' He looked really happy all of a sudden. Ewan simply stood up straight and faced towards Claire.

'We're ready.'

___________

@Pikmin Eye@Eklispe@Lasrever

Simon's attitude remained the same as he noted that he was pointed at. He listened to his adversary's words carefully, and kept his hand held into the skies. After Martin turned and spoke to Dawkin as well, Simon raised his chin in pride and let his hand down, but still stood with his chest puffed out in confidence.

'Throw any rules you like at me! One day I'll be a Pokémon Master that shall overcome any adversary, but even before that, I will most certainly be a man who won't refute any challenge! It is all a part of my journey to become the best!' He proudly announced, placing a hand on his chest and looking proud, not even seemingly turning to see if he could have any support as if he was going to take them all on himself.

That's when Abigail spoke towards the two girls standing nearby, Maple and Ellyn.

'Ueeeh?' Ellyn sounded. '… Group battle? That sounds like a-' She started saying with tired eyes when...

'YES! WE WOULD LOVE TO GROUP BATTLE!' Maple sounded out with wide eyes, bouncing a bit on the spot and causing Ellyn to recoil on the side. The girl immediately dashed forward to stand in beside Simon and bowed to Martin, Dawkin and Abigail. 'I'm Maple! I'm so happy to be able to battle you all! May I know your names? I'd be so happy to know!' She immediately started rambling, before spinning around and bowing to Simon.

'Thank you very much for letting us join you in battle!' She said, despite Simon not even having actually said a word about accepting. 'I promise, we'll do our very best!' She said.

'Your best...!?' Simon's smile and eyes both seemed to increase in size and excitement, before he proudly announced. 'Of course! I expect nothing less from my team members! Maybe, just maybe, you can become the very best, too! … After me, of course!' Simon happily sounded out without actually looking at Maple.

'Thank you!' Maple responded before finally turning and looking at Ellyn again with eager eyes. 'We'll do our best together, right?'

'…' Ellyn stayed quiet as she looked at Maple's shining expression, the disinterested-looking girl seemingly faltering upon being confronted with this by this overabundance of innocent eagerness...

'Ah, fine. Let's just do this...' Ellyn eventually spoke out, grabbing a Pokéball and looking forward with a tired stare at their opponents.

'Yes! Let's all have a ton of fun!' Maple said, eagerly turning to face their opponents, taking out a Pokéball and her shovel, for some reason.

'Alright! Let's go!' Simon said and took out his Pokéball and prepared himself. He arced back to throw his ball with extra power, Maple threw her ball up into the air, and Ellyn just casually lifted a hand to lob the ball.

'GO!' 'GO!' '…' Two out of three called out energetically.

'SIMON #2!' 'MAGGY!' '…' And the three balls flew, one thrown by Simon with all his might, one struck by a shovel for some reason as Maple swung it like a tennis-racket like that was good for the Pokéball and then Ellyn who had just lobbed it unenthusiastically.

In front of them took shape. A small pink creature held up by leaves. A kinda humanoid red creature with arms, legs and a puff on the head. A small green bird with red details and yellow beak that stared forward.

'Hoppip!' 'Maaag!' '…' The three Pokémon perfectly mimiced their trainer's enthusiasm, Simon's Hoppip looking superbly happy as it danced in a minor breeze in the air, Maggy the Magby jumping up and down with enthusiasm mirroring Maple's and a single Natu sat expressionlessly staring ahead in silence, not too unlike Ellyn.









'… Hey!' Simon suddenly sounded out. 'Ellyn, you should be calling out your Pokémons' name when you send them out!' He turned and addressed Ellyn with this very important matter.

'… Eh, I should?' Ellyn asked, looking at him with an estranged expression.

'That's right!' Maple said, looking dead-seriously towards Ellyn. 'True Pokémon Trainers always call out all the names of their Pokémon and the attacks of their Pokémon! It's a requirement!'

'Maple's got it! She's absolutely correct!' Simon agreed, and the two energetic trainers were then nodding in sagely acknowledgement with each other while Ellyn looked on in slightly stunned confusion.

'… Er, OK. I'll remember that... next time.' Ellyn gave in as she looked forward at where her Natu was facing the enemy, the three Pokémon maintaining their eagerness / stares.

___________

'… You gave Simon a Hoppip?' Kalmia in the background turned her head and asked Jacques quietly.

'I gave Simon a Hoppip.' Jacques answered with a little smile.

'You gave Simon a Hoppip.' Kalmia confirmed, nodding to herself before looking forward again.

A triple battle? Wasn't that a bit much? Ah well, it was too late now as the other party seemed to have committed to the idea as well. Two of them were overly energetic and the other was overwhelmingly not. It reminded him of the twins messing with Fred when he slept in. Still he wouldn't turn down the one that asked his name, plus he wasn't sure the other girl that joined their team so suddenly knew his either. Though he wasn't quite sure hitting a Pokeball with a shovel was proper Pokemon battle etiquette, now wasn't the time to bring it up. "I'm Dawkin, I hope this battle proves valuable to all of us. Go Aron!" The second Aron came out of his Pokeball and landed Dawkin followed up with a command, "Aron, use Harden." Aron spent a moment glancing back at his owner and at his competition before nodding, his eyes flashing with the same steely glint that covered his whole body in response to his body tightening fiercely. Dawkin grinned confidently. He'd gotten lucky. From what he knew of his opponent's Pokemon they didn't have any moves that would be terribly effective against Aron. Combined with Aron's preemptive harden he could slug it out head-head with his opponents and come out victorious.

In a more calm voice Dawkin said to his allies, "I can take any of them, pick your opponents as you will." Technically it was a triple battle, meaning that being limited to one opponent may not be the case, but Dawkin was willing to bet as no one seemed to have much experience with each other that they would battle in a way involving teamwork, if for no other reason than that was the one Dawkin felt. Dawkin's noted his ever so slightly shaking hands and casually slipped them into his pant pockets. Nerves? Surely not. Dawkin was confident he would win, he was a natural after all. Perhaps it was that he had no personal experience in Pokemon battling against competition whose limits he didn't know. No, he must have just not gotten enough to drink. A bold faced lie that Dawkin accepted. He didn't get nerves.

Martin was the first to declare the fight, but Dawkin stepped forward first. It wasn't a bad thing, as it gave him time to look over the others. Simon was ready to fight, even if it was just him. Maple was eager as well, leaving... Ellyn sounding like she wanted a nap. They all had their reasons for the fight, even if this wasn't going to be done often. He had to pull out his pokedex and scan them for a second. A Hoppip, Magby and a Natu. Martin was really hoping to see a ghost type. Still, if he remembered right, bugs beat psychic. This was already too much waiting. Simon was setting a bar that had to be met. Something about it was pretty fun to go with.

Martin pulled out his pokeball, his first fight and it was going to be a large one. He tossed it in the air a short distance from him, and yelled out, "My name is Martin. Remember that name, cause I'll be the best as well! Let's get them, Nincada!" With a flash of red light, a bug was called out. The large bug looked around for a bit. Martin tossed his hat out and tried to land it on Nincada. It was close enough, as he smiled. He looked over at Ellyn as he spoke, "Hey, we're here for some fun and to have a battle. It would be a lot better if you tried to enjoy this as well."

Nincada looked around being partially covered by Martin's hat. It didn't affect him either way, but the shade from sunlight calmed him down. He tried to look intimidating by tapping the ground repeatedly with his front claws. It came out more comical than scary when he did it. He looked over at Natu, like he knew who he was wanting to fight.

Martin was trying to remember his type match ups... Bug beat psychic, but what was it's weaknesses? Better to cover the bases as well. Man, one of these days, Dawkin or him are going to be accused of copying each other. "Nincada, let's get defensive as well. Use Harden." Nincada nodded and it's body toughened up. All of it's muscles tensed up as it was preparing to handle the fight that was coming up. Martin was almost showing his excitement with how ready he was for this battle. All those days on the trail, and now it's finally going to begin.

She looked nervously as the Cathlia throwed her pokemon out of it's ball. Seeing what pokemon it was, calmed her little bit "Flabebe huh?" she said quielty, taking her pokedex out and scanned the small pokemon '...Fairy type, Well that's good, my little Flame have a chance to win this battle' she thought herself.

Putting her pokedex back to her bag pocket she turned to the Cathlia "Nice Flabebe you have her...Cathlia....I am Donna, by the way" she said, giving small smile. Taking her pokeball out of her hoodie pocket, not breaking her gaze to the trainer which standed in front of her "Shall we begin then?" she asked.

Not waiting answers she throwed her pokeball "Flame time to show up"she called, as the pokeball smashed to the grassy ground and the little fire pokemon maked her appearance.

"Vul.." Flame said, as she stood front of her trainer and looked around the Cathlias Flabebe.

@PlatinumSkink

Like Ewan, Claire ignored Joshua. Instead, she focused on the pokemon he had - a Swinub. Her dad mentioned the pokemon to her before, but she had never seen one. Couldn't say she was a fan of it, really, but it had its charm. Not a pokemon she'd ever likely use though. She took out the pokedex she had been given earlier and scanned the pokemon. Nothing real interesting revealed about it, save for that it was indeed, an ice-type. Stuffing the pokedex back in her pocket rather unceremoniously, Claire turned back to her opponent.

"Hehe, well alright then!~" Claire said, snapping her fingers and pointing at Ewan with a playful wink. "Let's get this show started, shall we?"

"Rrrrralll!~" Ralia energetically threw her small hands up towards the sky, before posing rather dramatically, kicking out one of its legs before twirling once and pointing towards the Swinub, obviously excited to show off just a bit.

"Try not to cry when you lose, Ewan~" As much as she didn't really wish to battle here, she might as well have a bit of fun with it. Besides, she couldn't just not show off a little, could she? Showing off her mad skills was always fun, be they her playing video games, or having a little sparring match. That way, even if she did lose, she could at least look fabulous while doing it.

Not that she was planning on lose, like ever, though.

"Ralia, you know what to use, don't ya?" The best strategy here was to first weaken Swinub slightly. Ralia wouldn't exactly be the most mobile of pokemon, meaning avoiding an attack would be difficult for her at this moment probably, so she'd have to at least soften the blows somehow. Of course, she could also go full on offensive here, hit 'em hard and fast. That method also had merit...hmm. Could always try and do a little of both, no?~

"Hit 'em with Growl, and follow it up with a Confusion!~" Hopefully she'd be fast enough to hit them with a one-two combo here, but she wasn't entirely sure Ralia would be faster than Swinub.

Ralia seemed to move almost before Claire even said anything. Surprisingly loud, piercing, growl came from the Ralts, eyes lighting up with psychic energy when it was done, intent on hitting Swinub with a weak telekinetic force.

Abigail decided to just release Winston a bit more gently. It didn't reflect her enthusiasm at all, but that was mostly because she wasn't sure Winston would actually stay stood up if she went too quick. Looking at her opponent's Pokemon, a confident grin came across her face. Hey, she might not be the brightest outside, but she knew a lot about battling. "Yeah! Let's do this Winston!" she yelled, loudly enough to match Simon and Maple's earlier cries.

So, looking at the other team it seemed like it made sense for her to take on the Magby. After all, it was a fire-type, and Winston was water and ground! That was as close to a perfect matchup as you could get. At least if she was remembering right. "Me and Winston can take down the Magby! Oh, and um... I'm Abigail, I guess." With a smirk on her face, she pointed at Maple. "You hear that? You're totally going down!" she yelled in a way that was needlessly over-dramatic. Oh man, wasn't she supposed to have some kind of cool catchphrase? Note to self: Think of good hero catchphrase.

Turning to the battle, she pointed at the Magby, seeing that her teammates were apparently just gonna sit there instead of doing anything cool - honestly, didn't they know anything about drama - and called an attack, looking a little more focused than before. "Hit that Magby with your best water gun!" After getting a blank look from Winston for a few seconds she sighed. "The red one, Winston. It's the red one." Nodding, the Wooper turned and launched the attack, a powerful stream of water heading straight for the Magby.

---

@Eklispe@Pikmin Eye@Lasrever

Maple nodded happily as everyone gave their names. 'Let's have a good match~!'

Simon grinned at Martin's response, meeting his gaze with determination. 'We'll see about that...!'

'…' Ellyn was silent to Martin's words to her, but she did meet his gaze with a blank look. Eventually, she gave a small nod to him, whatever it could mean, but she did look a bit more focused now. A bit.

'Alright! This battle is on!' Simon made a grab into the air with his fist seeing the two first opponents coming out and hardening. He grinned widely, looking forward...

'#2! Use...' He suddenly silenced, his excited expression dawdling. He reached into his pocket and took out a Pokédex, clicking on it and looking at the screen, his Hoppip jumping with light steps on the ground in front of him. … Simon's expression suddenly went pale, staring down at the Pokédex which was telling it Hoppip's moves.

'… JACQUES!' He cried out towards the Elite Four, who smirked back at Simon's despairing expression.

'SHE DOESN'T KNOW ANY DAMAGING MOVES! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO-!?' Simon demanded, wide-eyed.

Jacques chuckled by himself, looking back at Simon with a calm, almost pleased expression. 'I seem to remember you specifically asking me for ”the Greatest Challenge”, did you not?' He replied, in a pleased voice.

'KH-!' Simon recoiled, waving his arms around. 'I-I did say that! And I meant it! But-' He waved his arms around some more, panicking lightly.

'…' Kalmia gave Jacques a very disapproving stare from the side, while Jacques just smiled proving that the games he was playing most certainly did not exclude his own hopefuls...

'Tah-hah, don't worry about it...' Maple smiled to him from the side, though she seemed a little disheartened that her ally was...

'Ah!' Maple suddenly flinched as Abigail pointed her out as someone who was going down, and then commanded to water-gun the Magby. '… Magby!' Maggy clenched her fists and stared forward at the Wooper, looking focused but troubled. 'Ah! Oh, no!' Maple suddenly exclaimed. 'Maggy's weak to water! What to...'

'…!' Simon's panic came to a dead-stop as his eyes refocused and was filled with a purpose. It appeared he had come up with something. '… #2!' He shouted out. 'TAKE THAT WATER-GUN, AND THEN USE SYNTHESIS!' He commanded, and immediately after, without delay...

'HOP!' The few seconds of a pause between the actual command and the water gun gave the Hoppip the time it needed to jump in front of the Magby, the light Pokémon gripping the ground before taking the beam of water to the face, Maggy looking on with a surprised face behind. … Not very effective! #2 smiled, as it absorbed the sunlight from above and healed the damage it had taken with Synthesis, a green little glow coming over it!

'Maple!' Simon commanded, the girl blinking with realization, looking surprised at Simon, who was gleaming with fierce determination. 'Maggy's the only Pokémon we have that can harm that Aron! #2 will defend you from the Wooper, so go ahead!' Simon grinned, his fist closing with his new-found goal in hand. 'Alright, #2! Be ready to heal, 'CAUSE WE'RE GONNA TANK! WE'LL BE THE VERY BEST TANK, LIKE NO-ONE EVER WAS!'

'HOP!' #2 smiled ever so happily, the Hoppip starting to jump playfully in-between Winston and Maggy, looking like it wanted to tease the Water/Ground Pokémon.

Jacques chuckled in personal amusement at Simon's determination. Seems like he found a way.

'O-OKAY!' Maple grinned in excitement as she looked forward at the Aron. 'Increasing your physical defense, eh? … That's not gonna help! Maggy, EMBER THE STEEL-THING!' Maple pointed forward at Aron with the shovel, and Maggy reacted.

'Maaaaaag!' The Magby smirked, before leaning it's head back and then spitting forward a fast single-burst of fire directed at Aron. It'd be difficult to dodge unless Aron focused entirely on dodging, but that would make it difficult to perform more actions. The part Rock-type meant the fire attack would not be super effective, but regardless, Magby's family are known for fairly powerful fire-attacks, and Aron's might not be as known for its Special Defense, which could make this dangerous.

'More embers, more embers, MORE EMBERS! BURN IT!' Maple demanded, waving her shovel almost dangerously through the air around her, her demands to burn Aron somehow not filled with any malicious tones at all, sounding just plain excited. While Maggy couldn't fire more than one fireball before Aron's next move, it was clear they weren't currently planning on using any other move in the future, either. More embers were on the way.

'…' Ellyn looked over towards Martin, looking like she was considering something. The Natu also turned, looking at Nincada. '...' While it was difficult to read the Natu's expression, there was an impression that the two Pokémon might have thought something similar. Then... 'Bird. Avoid the Aron if it approaches you. Otherwise, peck the bug.' She commanded.

'...' Without a sound, the Natu jumped forward. For a flightless bird, it was really fast, and it was making a beeline for Nincada, likely faster than what Nincada could dodge. While Peck was super-effective, Nincada has excellent defenses and had also just recently used Harden, raising said defense additionally. Still, Natu's flying-type Pecks could possibly very quickly build damage if left unattended.

_____________________

@Pink Madness

'Donna. I am pleased to have this battle with you.' Cathia said, nodding earnestly, before looking with a serious expression at Flame as she appeared. … Cathia blushed just a slightest. '… Your Vulpix is beautiful, too.' She reported, looking down at it. Then... she nodded. 'Then let's begin.'

'Flabébé, Tackle.' She said with a calm voice, commanding her Pokémon to use... the only real move it could use in this situation, regrettably. Cathia's expression might have been a little troubled as she gave the command.

'Flaaaaaa~' The Pokémon was having none of it! It looked so incredibly happy as it drifted into the air, before catching speed somehow and glide-tackled down towards Flame with the happiest expression on the planet.

_____________________

@Rune_Alchemist

Ewan nodded at Claire's words to start, and seemingly completely ignored the comment about crying when he lost. That wasn't likely, instead he was just going to immediately start give commands to his Swinub at the same time as Claire was.

'Sven. The opponent will attack from afar. Run directly for the target, always. Tackle.' Ewan showed off that he knew a bit of what the opponent was capable of already through his studies that got him to earn his Pokémon.

'Swi!' Sven confirmed that it understood, and wasted no time immediately dashing headlong towards Ralia when the battle began. And... the pig-Pokémon was faster than one could have thought, leaping headlong and was closing the distance disturbingly fast.

The cry came out fast. The Growl echoed over the field of battle, and Sven twitched mid-run as it was unable to avoid having its Attack be softened by the move. However, it didn't stop. Sven would quickly be approaching Ralia's position when she was charging up her next attack...

If she continued with that, it looked like they'd likely hit each other at the same time.

As Lucian saw his opponents horsea his smile faded, turning to Ren , he gestured to the water-type "Would you deal with the horsea? Houndour isn't the most effective against water types.." Having said that his focus returned to the battle, Lucian threw his pokeball forwards and released Houndour. The dark type instantly walked up to Lucian and attempted to reach for the pocket holding his watch. The darkly dressed teenager put his hand to his face and sighed before crouching down in front of the houndour "Okay,I understand you like shiny things, but" Lucian paused as he pulled some spare change he had in his back pockets out "See this? We can get alot more shiny things using this. You know how we get more of this?" the dog pokemon shook his head, fascinated by the light reflecting off the coin "Well it's simple. We beat people in battle, so let's do that, shall we?" Houndour gave a toothy grin and turned to his oppenents, barking furiously. Lucian stood up grinning, admiring his handiwork.

"Okay, let's test how brave these fellows are with a little growl" As Lucian spoke Houndour erupted into a menacing growl as he began to approach his opponents . "And follow up with an ember on the... Tyrogue was it? Yes, that fellow" Following Lucians command, Houndor released a blast of embers directed at the fighting type.

Hearing Catlia ordering to her Flabebe to use a tackle, automatically she was almost asking Flame to dodge it, but the move happened too fast so she coulden say anything at all.

She stopped breathing for a moment when Flame get hitted by Flabebe's tackle, but relaxed when realised that even thought Flame was hurt, she was still standing . Thinking about the moves her Vulpix could do in her current level "...Flame use Tail whip" she called to the little fire pokemon.

Without any other words, the Vulpix run toward the Cathlia's Flabebe and use her tail to attach her. Thought it didn't see to be very effective against the fairy pokemon.

Growl went off without a hitch! Good! Ralia however, was wide open for the tackle attack. Bad! There wasn't enough time for the Ralts to dodge that. However, sometimes you just needed to take the blow dealt to you, so you could hit 'em with a hard counter. For instance, Ralia could attempt to dodge, but if she did that...then there was a chance she'd get hit without dealing any damage. If she could keep her line of sight focused on Swinub, there was a good chance they would both take a hit. Plus, there was a small chance Swinub could veer off course if they got lucky. And, considering the growl, she was confident in Ralia's ability to take a hit so there wasn't really a good reason to attempt to dodge.

Without a word to Ralts, it kept on her course. It held out its arms towards Sven, eyes lighting up with psychic energy, locking with the Swinub. Claire waited for the result of the action before giving Ralia another command.