Reiji had listened to the whole ordeal and all of the other hopefuls seemed alright but one stuck out as someone he really might have an issue with, Joshua. The way he held himself and seemed to focus on the girls without giving the guys much thought just rubbed Reiji the wrong way.
"Hey, Joshua!" Reiji said stepping forward after calling Riolu back to his ball during the introductions. "I want to battle you. I'm interested to see how you act when faced with someone other than a girl." he said trying to look the other boy in the eye. The whole time the thoughts were sprinting through his mind of everything he learned working with his father and his father's Lucario. Simple strategies and even how to work with them but because of his excitement at the battles around him and the one he was likely about to start Reiji couldn't focus through the strategies and ideas he just needed to react to the situation at hand.

So, this was the essence of a team battle. Using all your Pokemon and everything you had available to win. A simple 'hit it until it dies' strategy would fail against what his opponents had created, he would have to respond in kind. Whooper could absorb Magby's attacks and Aron Natu's attacks. Once either Magby or Natu fell the rest would fall into place. The bird would fall first as it was limited to melee attacks from what Dawkin could see. First however, the current impeding attack had to be dealt with. "Aron, use Mudslap to protect and counterattack." Dawkin said confidently. Without a backward glance Aron dug its front paws into the ground and heaved upwards, bringing with it a pile of mud that soared through the air towards Magby. It would run into the ember, the mass of watery ground doubtless extinguishing the ember and carrying on to blind Magby, though probably inflicting very little damage. Aron was after all, lacking in special abilities in the area of offense or defense. Now, onto the strategy. "Abagial, use Whooper to block Magby's fire and keep it's bodyguard pinned down with constant water attacks: Aron Tackle Natu. If it runs team up with Nincada and take down Magby, attacking Natu if it tries to interfere." Dawkin couldn't resist a smirk. How was that for strategy?

Dawkin was quick to respond to the events unfolding. Already blocking a shot with Aron and declaring himself and Wooper as defenders. If that was the case, then that left him to take on Magby. Seemed simple, but taking on a fire type was not the best idea. Well, who ever said it was bright to challenge flying types either? Hoppip was quickly dismissed as a defensive Pokemon in Martin's mind. It was a glorified wall, capable of healing away the damage. While a good idea, it wasn't going to be able to take on two Pokemon at once. Nincada was staring at Natu with a look of wanting the fight. Or perhaps, it just wanted to take on a foe who could take it out quickly. The bird was closing in quickly and hit Nincada. Although a powerful hit, it still stood it's ground.

It seemed his Pokemon was already set on his traget, which was Natu. It would be better to not fight with his own Pokemon this early. He can work with it right now. Martin called out to Nincada. "Now while it's right on you, use Leech Life!" Nincada nodded again, the hat still covering it's head, albeit with a new hole in it from the Peck. Using it's claws, it struck out at the bird, threatening to take more than a few feathers with it. Martin realized he was forgetting something. Flying types beat bug, he should have realized that sooner. Using a Bug type would be normal effective against Natu, but it was already called out. Aron was already heading over to back up Nincada and take on the bird. Of course, Natu was likely to run away. That just gave a reason to gang up on Magby. No trainer would leave a situation that bad for their teammates, right?

"Nincada, if Natu keeps up the fight, stay behind Aron. Follow him like a shadow, and strike Natu when you see the chance. If it runs away, focus on Magby as well." It was all about match ups and Natu didn't have a chance getting through Aron. This was looking to be good teamwork on both sides. Even if it looked silly, let's see how Natu plans on dealing with this. Dawkin had a good strategy, and there was no flaw as far as he saw. Still, bug types are always laughed at for being weak. Despite the type disadvantages, he was going to prove the power of Bug types. Nincada was still doing it's thing trying to be threatening as it pounded it's claws into the ground.

As Winston looked confused, Abigail listened to Dawkin's plan. It sounded good to her, but she wasn't sure Winston would be fast enough to get past the Hoppip by running - and he had to get close to block any of Magby's attacks. Pausing for a second, she thought - there was plenty of time for that, since it wasn't like the Hoppip would actually do anything excapt get in the way.

Okay, so going fast. What kind of things went fast? Cars, planes... rockets. With a slightly frightening look of inspiration, she pointed towards a nearby building.

"Hey, Winston, I need you to get close to that wall!" she cried, her Pokemon obeying the slightly confusing order. Once he was close to it, she called out another move. Making sure the angle seemed right, her smile widened. "Okay, now jump and give that wall your hardest Water Gun!" the Wooper obeyed, leaping into the air and firing a surprisingly strong jet of water into the wall.

Which sent him flying in the opposite direction. Although it was a bit faster and less controlled than Abigail expected, as seen by the nervous grin on her face as her Pokemon soared right at the Magby. Well, it was one way to move around the battle, right? Winston didn't seem too worried by it, anyway, continuing his water gun regardless.

Hey, they never really said what they meant by 'block the Magby'. Technically, she'd had to get past the Hoppip somehow. She looked at her teammates with a nervous thumbs up. She had this. Totally had this.

@Pink Madness

The Flabébé smiled as happily as ever as it impacted the Vulpix, and then it started drifting away. Then, the command to Tail Whip was given, and the white Pokémon on a flower blinked as it was hit by the status-effecting attack. While it drifted as happily as before, it had definitely been hit.

'… Continue tackling until I give a different command.' Cathia said, keeping frowning as she knew what this meant. Flabébé just smiled happily and accelerated down through the air for another tackle, despite its defence being lowered.

______

@Rune_Alchemist

Sven kept the charge coming as Ralia focused for the Confusion. And, indeed, Ralia got off its attack, the psychic attack hitting the Swinub, which twitched from the damage on the way. However, apart from jiggling a bit on the way and having to readjust its heading, it was undeterred, and...

'Swi...!' Sven impacted its tackle against Ralia. Ralia would find herself damaged and thrown somewhat back... but not as badly as she could have been. The Growl was showing its work. … Maybe more worrying was the fact that the Swinub, damaged but unrelenting, was still heading for her new location in full haste, and there was much less distance between them now compared to earlier.

Ewan looked on silently, as this was the strategy which he could see had the highest chance of success, hunt down the enemy on as close a range as possible with tackle after tackle.

______

@Keyblade87

Joshua, who had so eagerly been watching Ewan from the side, smiling while inspecting Claire carefully, looking from her to Ewan with obvious intent. Then, his attention was called as Reiji approached, his smile disappearing as he turned to face his adversary.

He sighed a bit, crossing his arms and placing one hand on his headphone while closing his eyes.

'Aaah. That's what I get for being distracted, I got matched up with a guy when the majority of the opponents are girls. Typical.' … Then, he opened his eyes and inspected Reiji. He raised his eyebrows a little, looking him up and down, Joshua's expression turning from disappointment, to surprise, and eventually to interest.

'Still, you're pretty cool. I like your style, kid~! Show me what you got, wooo~!' He visibly turned a lever on his headphones, increasing the volume of whatever he was listening to. Joshua grabbed a Pokéball and threw it into the air, grinning the whole while.

'And we'll show 'em what we got! Go, Pichu~!'

And after a little flash of the Pokéball hitting the ground a small yellow mouse-creature with black outlines on the ears, a small black tail, two black eyes, two red cheeks and a tiny happy smiling mouth showing towards his opponent.

'Pichu!' The creature sounded out, eager to get into action, taking a prepared battle stance.





'Yeah, you go, Pichu! You're the best little buddy a trainer could hope for!' Joshua called out to his Pokémon, and...

'Pichu~!' The little Pokémon actually looked embarrassed, lifting an arm to scratch behind its head while small sparks of electricity came from its already red cheeks in place of blushing.

______

@Pikmin Eye@Eklispe@Lasrever

'… Best?' Simon somehow heard that word from a fairly large distance to where Joshua was starting his fight, and looked over. '… Nonono.' Simon said to himself, turning back to his own fight. '#2 is obviously the best, and if she isn't, she'll become the best!' So Simon nodded to himself, suddenly distracted.

Aron used Mud-Slap, digging into the ground and then throwing up the mud to defend itself. Indeed, the mud impacted the ember, but the mud did not carry on. In fact, the force of the ember turned out to be the stronger of the two, and the mud shattered aside from the impact. The ember had been stopped, only the heat of it being felt and not the actual ball of fire, but the Mud-Slap was also stopped by the impact. Maggy kind of paused, blinking at the ineffective Ember.

The Natu and the Nincada impacted, Peck piercing a little and Nincada striking back against the Natu. The bird recoiled, bouncing back from the hit with a passive stare at the bug. The Peck had likely done the most damage, even with Nincada's defense, but then Leech Life had regained it some health. In the end, it was unclear which was the more damaged. Then the Aron was commanded to tackle it, and as commanded the bird stayed clear of the iron Pokémon. Ellyn frowned, watching the scene.

Then... it was Winston. Maple kept her eyes on the Wooper as he headed off towards the wall, quite concerned about what the Water/Ground-type might do considering the type-advantage. However, she did not expect... that. Her and Maggy's eyes both got wide with surprise as Winston launched himself through the air towards Maggy...

'MAGGY, DEFEND YOURSELF!' Maple desperately commanded, and Maggy looked around in panic before her eyes met with the nearby smiling Hoppip.

'Hoppip?' #2 asked, before suddenly Maggy determinedly grabbed the Hoppip with both hands and lifted it above her head towards the incoming Wooper.

'… PIIIIP!' #2 suddenly gave a cry of pain, it's tiny arms and legs flinging as it appeared to feel considerable amount of discomfort, specifically from Maggy's hands...

Simon #2 was inflicted with Burn by Maggy's Flame Body!

And then Winston impacted into the pained Hoppip, likely causing an imaginary shower of stars and light-effects as #2 flew out of Maggy's hands somewhere backwards while Winston bounced back since Maggy was holding back the blow, Maggy and Maple both looking a bit confused by this impact. As this was a contact move which Winston doesn't naturally know, it qualifies as Struggle, and as such Winston suffered a bit of damage as well. However, Hoppip's body's so light and likely rather soft, the damage would not be considerable.

#2 flew off a bit and landed a fair bit behind Maggy...

'WAH!' Simon suddenly recovered from being distracted, staring in shock at his Pokémon flying off. '#2! USE SYNTHESIS!'

'…' There was a bit of silence from the burned and hurt Hoppip lying on its back, before two tiny hands reached into the air. 'HOP!' A green glow came, and the little grass-created healed from most of the damages and jumped back on its feet, but it was a bit away from the action now.

'Th-that Wooper is really dangerous...!' Maple stated, bouncing a bit in place. Ellyn looked back and forth a bit, and then clicked her tongue.

'Tsk. I'll handle it. Cover me from the other two.' Ellyn said. 'Bird. Fly up in the Wooper's face and Leer it. Then Peck it to oblivion. Don't give it the time to Water Gun Maggy.' Ellyn commanded. As commanded, the Natu turned from the other two and jumped with considerable speed away from the other two to Winston, now separated from the other two, to first get in front of it to use Leer, a glare which lowers the enemy's defence, and then it was intending on proceeding with Peck.

'A-alright! Maggy, don't let the other two help out their team-member! Ember whichever comes close! You're effective against both!' Maple commanded, wide-eyed and looking on, Maggy focusing another fire-ball looking at the other two for their next move.

'Get back to defending Maggy, #2! She needs you...!' Simon commanded a bit desperately, and albeit burned, #2 happily started making her way. … But she had a bit to go.

@PlatinumSkink

The Swinub slammed into Ralia with a full force tackle. The Ralts went stumbling backwards, tossed to the ground a few feet away. The pokemon swiftly got to her feet, jumping up with an energetic pose obviously undeterred despite the damage. Neither her nor Claire got much of a chance to react though. Sven kept up its charge, heading right for the Ralts. They didn't have much of a chance to react here. What to do? Another growl? But if they kept just using growl, then they would never get any damage off. Confusion? Keep trading blows? If they could somehow avoid it, and get in its blindspot...but how?...wait-!

Now that was a fabulous idea!

Ralia likely didn't have any martial art or physical prowess aside from dancing it seemed, but that should be enough. Hopefully it would be enough, as Ralts wasn't exactly the speediest or most agile of pokemon, but Claire was confident. Just had to pull off a dazzling move at the right moment.

"Alright, Ralia! You know what to do girl, hit 'em hard when we can dazzle 'em the best!~" Ralia didn't even seem to need much instruction aside from that simple sentence. It wouldn't exactly be the most dazzling way to win, but a win was a win, and at the moment Ralia didn't exactly have much in the way of dazzling moves. Either way, Ralia positioned itself in front of the Swinub, seemingly intent on taking the tackle.

And right when it was about to connect...Ralia jumped as high as she could, and attempted to cling onto the side of the Swinub. If successful, it would attempt to ride on it, and start unleashing more confusion attacks from atop it the best she could. No doubt it'd still hurt her a bit, but hopefully like this, they could subdue the Swinub with ease,

Dawkin narrowed his eyes as he analyzed the ongoing of the battle. Interesting. He saw no reason a continuation of his stratgey wouldn't work, though some rather... odd things had happened. Whooper had defiantly been fairly... unconventional and Hoppip was burned now he supposed. Well both had more or less ended up playing to his favor. Though Maple was correct they her fire would be effective, relatively, against both of them, Dawkin was now aware that Mud-slap could neutralize Ember. With two attacks coming in, Magby would either be forced to take both or take one with no responding damage. The Magby was dooomed. Whooper meanwhile merely had to fight off one attacker and regardless of the outcome, the Natu would fall soon after Magby did. "We defeat Magby now. Aron use Mudslap on Magby, Martin, continue attacking. Once we finish Magby we have we can help Whooper." Dawkin said calmly, confident in how this battle would play out. Aron obediently repeated his earlier action, understanding that once Magby was finished Natu stood no chance and Hoppip was no threat. That or he was simply obeying his trainer. Not that Dawkin particularly cared either way. He was pleased that the other two on his team had followed his orders without question, though Abigail's interpretation was somewhat lacking. Dawkin was eager for this battle to come to a close with him on top.

The plan was going pretty good. Nincada was sticking around, despite all the type disadvantages. Natu was retreating as Aron showed up. Whooper, flew through the sky like a rocket. Martin got distracted by the spectacle, he did not think that was even possible. Hoppip suffered a burn on it, and Magby was trying to not get touched by the water type. Dawkin was talking about a focus fire on the Fire type. It sounded like a gang up, but that's how a team battle works, right? It was a valid tactic, everything work together to defeat the opponent one by one. Nincada had it's sights set on Natu, daring the bird to do that again. Martin had a feeling it was going to be work telling it to change targets.

"Nincada, change tactics. I need you to go after Magby right now. We can get back to Natu after we take him down. Use the Mudslap as cover and follow it up with Scratch!" Martin found himself holding his hand out like that would mean anything. Guess the fun is contagious, and he was going along for the ride. Nincada kept staring at Natu for a while, before finally looking at it's new opponent. Another tough opponent, but that won't scare him. After Aron used Mudslap, Nincada ran behind it, a cover against the impending fire the Pokemon was sure to use. Nincada raised it's sharp claws, ready to cut down it's foe.

Martin found himself smiling as well, this was how you start a journey. Use your environment and take on your opponent, no matter how bad the match up is. Dawkin seemed pretty good at making strategies, and Abigail had the most original ideas. Martin felt like he was falling behind for using such basic attacks. Guess his new order might make up for it. There was the concern that Nincada was going to be burned, but it's not like he could do nothing to help.

❄Erika Olson❄

---

Erika gave her friend, Claire, a nod before wishing her good luck as well. "Mhm! And you as well!", Erika replied sounding excited. However, she was pretty apprehensive as the newly established trainers all paired off with each other. Eventually they all settled and Erika was left standing, a bit at a lost, as she looked for a potential opponent. That's when she remembered that girl from earlier... Vivia! She seemed like she'd know a thing or two about Pokemon at the very least, seeing as she was the Professor's assistant. So Erika sought her out and gave her a wave when the two met eyes.

"Hey Vivia!", Erika said sounding as friendly as she could. "I suppose it'll be us facing off." Erika turned her attention away from her opponent and glanced behind her to see Sno trailing behind. "Alright ready?" Erika asked not only her Pokemon but also Vivia as she turned around faced her opponent once again.

Donna bit her bottom lips, when her commanded attack wasen't effective at all, and Cathia's Flabebe continued tackling. Tackle wasen't the most strongest attack bit against someone like Flame it was "Flame dodge them as much you can" she yelled at her.

Thinking about the moves Vulpix can do in this level '... of course' she thought about herself. Looking at the Flabebe's moves " Flame, good so close to her that you can and use ember" she ordered decisively, knowing that fire type move could make good damaged if fully hits the target.

Flame dogded the Flabebe's tackles and run closer to her " Vuuulll" she yelled as she used her ember.

Abigail looked pretty focused on the battle now, although the challenging smirk she gave their opponents made it pretty clear she was pleased with how her move had turned out. It looked like Winston would be on his own for now, though, as the bird attacked him. He seemed to have taken a little damage in the collision, but he still had plenty of fight left in him that was for sure. Messing with the other team's plan that much was probably worth it.

Still, she had to focus on trying to keep her Pokemon active. His defence was down because of the Leer, which had caught him just as he was getting back up. Wow, that bird was kinda fast! Winston wasn't exactly the same way, though, which could be an issue. As the Peck approached, she looked at the bird. It wasn't very big, but she didn't want Winston to take too many attacks from it right now. But he wasn't really fast enough to dodge. Well, there wasn't really any other option - she'd have to hope his attacks were as strong as they'd seemed.

"Try and use your Water Gun to push the bird away from you!" she called, her Pokemon quickly obeying. Abigail figured it wasn't likely to stop the other Pokemon in its tracks, but hopefully its advance would get slowed down by the force of the water. If it wasn't moving too fast, it might not get as much power behind its Peck either. And the attack would hopefully do a bit of damage to the Natu anyway.

Seeing the small electric Pokemon Reiji grinned to himself before pulling out his Pokeball and tossing it up in the air.
"Alright Riolu come on out!" he shouted as the small beam of light shot from the pokeball before revealing the small Blue and black Pokemon. "Lets start this off with a bang shall we?" Reiji began before pointing at the small mouse. "Lets go Quick Attack!" he shouted which made the small dog-like pokemon smile and dart forward seeming to move faster than possible before moving in line to collide with the little yellow pokemon.

@Rune_Alchemist

Ralia took her stance, and Ewan stood with his straight face inspecting the battle from his side while Sven dashed towards Ralia. Seemingly no exact command had been made, but Ralia still had acknowledged the plan. The advantages of fighting with a Psychic Pokémon.

Sven charged in at Ralia, who... jumped, and landed on his side, grabbing onto it.

'SWI-!?' Sven made a loud noise and started trashing and jumping around on the spot, forcing the Ralts to use all her physical strength to just hold on, but she could still use her mental strength to use Confusion on the Swinub.

It cried out a bit in damage, but didn't otherwise seem confused, and kept throwing about, running and spinning in circles, allowing Ralia to practice her pig riding rodeo skills. That's when Ewan made his voice known.

'Stop.' He called, a single word. It was to Sven, who stopped instantly, and unfortunately the force which he stopped with would be too much for a Ralts to hold on with.

'Odor Sleuth.' Ewan commanded, and the Swinub breathed in through its large front nose... 'Swi!' Looks like it picked up the scent.

'Tackle.' Ewan followed this up with, looking onto the battle with the means with which he held, and Sven immediately spun around and charged towards Ralia once again. Though, this move in between had given Ralia some extra time for her own next move, and Sven was more damaged than her. However, with Odor Sleuth in effect, it would feel like Sven had essentially used a cheat-code for precise aim, dodging the same way would become a lot more difficult.

________

@Pirouette

Vivia looked a little sad as people kept on picking opponents that wasn't her. Was it... was it because she had seemingly betrayed them? That was it, wasn't it? She lost the little confident glimt in her eyes for a moment... when Erika came up to her, and her eyes shone up again. She looked over the girl and to Sno who was following along, and Vivia smiled to her.

'Of course! Don't expect me to hold back!' Vivia smiled happily, her haughty words not matching up with the tone or expression she was returning. Her hands went to her side, where we'll say is a bag for items and she started fishing for a Pokéball, grabbing one and lifting it up with newfound energy. 'Alright, let's get starte- AH.'

Vivia's eyes suddenly went wide with panic when another Pokéball, not the one she had picked out, suddenly fell down towards the ground... 'NO, NOT-!'

There was a bright flash, and a small, floating orange Pokémon revealed itself, grinning to itself. 'Rooo~!'





'NO, NOT YOU. BACK IN THERE.' Vivia demanded, picking up the Rotom's Pokéball and attempted returning it. However, Rotom dodged back and forth with a cheeky grin, avoiding the Pokéball.

'FINE, THEN STAY BACK AND DO NOTHING.' Vivia demanded of it in frustration, as she spun and threw the other Pokéball forward towards the battle-area. With a little flash emerged a purple fuzzball with big, red eyes and two antenna... 'Venonat!'





'Alright, Venonat! We'll show our ability together!' Vivia cried out, using her anger at the Rotom's unappreciated appearance to fuel her battle-vigor. The Venonat looked forward at Sno, ready to get going.

'Rotoooom...' The orange ghost-Pokémon's lightning wings drooped a bit, looking disappointed that it wasn't allowed to fight. And then, it gained a little grin, before it silently drifted forward on a slight angle downwards. It moved itself so it'd place itself beneath Vivia's skirt, before intending on turning to look-

Vivia suddenly dashed with full speed into Kalmia's lab, leaving the grinning Rotom and staring Venonat both blinking in surprise into the door that Vivia slammed open. Moments later, the raging assistant came out carrying a small washing machine, glaring at the Rotom.

'Rotom!?' The Rotom flinched, looking at its raging trainer. Vivia then dashed with full speed, somehow carrying a washing machine in that speed, while Rotom turned around trying to flee. However, he was too late, and...

'HYAH!' Vivia smashed down the washing machine over the orange ghost-Pokémon, causing the Rotom to vanish and the washing machine suddenly turned orange, and gained a face.



'Rotom?' The washing machine asked, before suddenly Vivia spun around and delivered a full round-house kick to its face, sending the washing-machine/Pokémon flying way over multiple buildings. 'ROOOOOOOOoooooootoooo_{oooooooommm...}' … One could swear one saw a small flashing star where it vanished into the sky.

'I apologize for that...' Vivia breathed out as she put her leg down again after having kicked her Rotom. One can realize the reason Vivia brought the washing machine was to have Rotom possess it, thereby losing its Ghost-type and therefore enabling Vivia to kick it. One could also realize that that was the Pokémon Vivia had claimed “didn't count” as a first Pokémon. Finally, one could realize that Vivia's legs... are actually really, REALLY strong.

'L-let's begin before it comes back.' Vivia urged, the Venonat that had been staring at its trainer now spinning around again to face Erika and Sno, ready for action.

________

@Pink Madness

A chase commenced. Flabébé chased Flame who dodged her tackles, barely ahead of the flower fairy. But, Flame was proving the faster of the two, albeit only slightly when Flabébé accelerated for a tackle.

When, however, the order to Ember was given, the target was easy to hit. Flabébé was trying to impact against Flame, meaning Flame could just shoot a blast right as she dodged a blow from point-blank range. And, so it hit.

'Flaaaaaa...!' The fairy spun a bit as the fireball impacted, spinning vertically before coming to a pause mid-air... and blinked happily down at the Vulpix. A Flabébé has rather high Special Defense, and wasn't as hurt as it could have been. But, it was definitely damaged, and like this it wasn't hitting its tackles.

'Flabébé!' Cathia commanded, raising her voice. 'Use Vine Whip to latch onto its legs! Don't let it dodge you!'

'Flaaaaaaaa~' Flabébé smiled happily, and vines shot out from the flower towards Flame. While as an attack, Vine Whip would be Not Very Effective, but to hold her in place they'd do their job. The vines would snap to grab around Flame's front legs and her body, to hold her in place while Flabébé flew in to tackle again, unless she managed to escape this somehow. To note, however, even if the vines got hold of Flame, her internal heat would be able to make short work of them, though perhaps not fast enough to avoid a hit from the next Tackle.

________

@Eklispe@Pikmin Eye@Lasrever

'E-EMBER THE MUD-SLAP!' Maple commanded in panic, seeing two enemies approaching. Maggy complied, frowning and blew out an ember at the incoming mud, with the same effect as previously. The mud was blown open, but the fireball was effectively stopped with the exception for the heat. Braving said heat, Nincada was able to approach and Scratch at the Magby.

'MAG-!' Maggy recoiled from the scratch-damage, jumping back but clearly damaged, a Magby's defenses sub-par. She glared forward at the enemies, but she had every intention to continue fighting. A Hoppip bounced in at her side, smiling happily.

'Hoppip~!' #2 announced, willing to take part.

'B-block the Aron's mud for me! Maggy can win as long as her Embers aren't blocked!' Maple requested of Simon, who nodded enthusiastically.

'You heard her, #2! We'll block Aron! We'll be the very best blockers!' He called out, Simon holding his determined expression. With their new plan, both of them turned to the battle. Both Maple and Simon found a place where to smile in the midst of battle.

'Hop!' With that, #2 jumped forward, her only goal to be a general pain, intent on blocking the enemy's route. Maggy glared at Nincada, intending on repaying that damage with considerable interest, another ember charging in her mouth.

Meanwhile, Winston took a Leer, but then the Natu found herself pushed back by the stream of water to its face. After it ended, Natu was a bit further away, but it shook its head and glared at the defense-downed Wooper. Natu was damaged, and had been unable to hit Winston. Ellyn glared at the two a bit, and then made her decision.

'Bird. Two small jumps to the right. Jump and attack, be ready to dodge.' Ellyn commanded, and the Natu somehow knew exactly how far a small jump was for it jumped and placed itself there, and went forward to attack, jumping a bit into the air to be at roughly the same height as the enemy's face when it attacked. A keen-eyed observer would note that, at the moment of attack, Natu had placed itself so that if Winston Water Gunned and missed, the water would be heading for Aron, somewhat further away...

________

@Keyblade87

'Oh, Quick Attack!' Joshua grinned, waving his elbows back and forth a little in some form of dance, as he watched. He gave absolutely no command. The lack of command caused Pichu to blink a bit in panic as it realized an attack was coming and it wasn't commanded to do anything about it...!

'P-Piii!' Pichu sounded out in panic as Riolu flew in as a blur to strike the Pichu... and while he impacted, a sudden flare of electricity came sparking out from the Pichu. The surprise of the strike caused the yellow Pokémon to discharge, and electricity is unfortunately faster than Quick Attack, so Riolu was shocked. Not paralyzed, though! Just a bit damaged.

'P-piichu!' Though so was the panicked Pichu, staring forward in a bit of fear and considerable damage...

'Perfect! Just like that, Pichu!' Joshua said, complimenting his Pokémon. Pichu blinked in surprise, looking back at him. 'Pichu...?'

'If you try to aim at him, you'll never be able to hit him while he's Quick Attacking. You'll also never be able to perfectly time it so you discharge just as he hits you! Therefore, let your instincts take over! Don't prepare to be struck, let yourself be surprised! Your natural defense mechanism will do the rest! Sooner or later he'll be paralyzed, and he'll be all yours! Go for it, little buddy!' Joshua told his plan to his little yellow Pokémon, the Pichu staring at its trainer wide-eyed and in awe, before nodding with determination.

'… Pichu!' Pichu spun back to face Riolu, not entirely sure how not to prepare to be hit, but...

'Charm in the meantime~!' Joshua told it, and Pichu got quiet for a second.

'Piiichyyuuu~!' Pichu jumped with the happiest face alive, and one could truly see the glimmering around it as the Pichu somehow made itself excruciatingly cute, and Riolu if watching might find his attack draining considerably...

But super-low defense Pichu had taken so much damage from high-attack Riolu earlier, even with this, it wasn't as if Charm could cripple Riolu enough in this case.

Dawkin gave a pleased grin once more, though that quickly vanished once Hoppip rejoined the fight. What a pest, if this was anything but a team battle his opponent would've had to forfiet. His authoriative voice rang out once more, "Aron! Tackle that Hoppip out of the way and continue smashing into Magby!" Dawkin was confident Aron could simply push the weaker, floaty, burned, Pokemon out of the way and continue barreling into Magby. Another Mudslap would simply be absorbed and healed, a pointless effort. Aron shard his trainer's confidence and charged ahead as ordered, seeming to enjoy the thought of sending Hoppip flying. A joint attack from Aron and Nincada would likely finish off Magby, or at least get close. If things unravelled as planned victory was assured, though this battle had been random enough that something entirely strange happening wouldn't be entirely unexpected. He was paying little attention to Winston's fight, trusting Abagial to handle that battle on her own until Magby was taken out.

Martin had a smile, this was a risky move, bit it paid off. Nincada was mostly unharmed from the strategy and Magby was angry. The Hoppip got in the way again, as expected. Nincada was excited to be facing a fire type, and winning for now. Hoppip wasn't a threat, but if it continued to be in the way. A wall can be used both ways, even if it was a grass type. That's it, "Nincada, if Hoppip wants to be a wall, then we will make it one. Push that Pokemon back and advance towards Magby, then use Scratch again. If it won't move, then it will be our shield as well!"

Nincada stared at Martin for a few seconds before nodding to show he understood it. He ran at the Hoppip and dove into it to knock it back towards Magby. This was a crazy plan, but the two were moving towards Magby. A shot at Nincada could be friendly fire, but it was likely Hoppip could recover in time to move. Nincada was still going towards Magby either way. His claws raised upwards ready to attack. He was brave, trusting that his new trainer knew what he was doing and this would end pretty well. Martin wasn't sure if this was even going to work. A team battle meant being creative, how was this for creative? It still was nowhere close to the rocket that was Whooper in the sky. Whooper, he's going to have to hold on a little longer. Even in a good plan, someone has to hold out until back up came. Martin felt a bit bad, but there was no time for that. If he ever wanted to be a great trainer, he couldn't doubt his choices, and it wasn't going to start now.

"Yeah! Great power Winston!"

Abigail had gotten a bit caught up in her own battle. She was surprised to have hit the Natu the first time, but figured a straight-up Water Gun wouldn't hit the bird this time. She had to make it harder to dodge. "Winston, Tail Whip then see if you can swipe your Water Gun across and hit the Natu!" she called, confident that the strategy would let her hit the bird, although it wouldn't have the same power behind it. Tail Whip was more so her teammates had a better chance at helping her out whenever they got there. Winston didn't really know any physical attacks, but wagged his tail all the same to lower the bird's defence.

Of course, it was only once she'd actually called this out that she realised her teammates were behind the Natu after it had moved. And while the spread of the Water Gun was pretty impressive, and she'd usually be pretty happy with it... Well, whether or not it hit the Natu, it seemed like a few of the other Pokemon in the battle might be in for a bit of a soaking. Oops. That wasn't exactly what she'd planned to have happen - but at least the water might hit the other team's Pokemon as well.

It wasn't like she'd meant for collateral damage, she'd just kind of forgotten it was a team battle for a little bit. Hopefully it wouldn't hit them too hard - if she was lucky, maybe they'd somehow dodge it. Not that she was that lucky most of the time.

@Lasrever@Pikmin Eye@Eklispe

First, Winston Tail Whipped before actually going to Water Gun. This messed up the Natu's timing. It had timed the strike so that if Winston Water Gunned immediately, it would have hit Aron, but now he Tail Whipped first? Ellyn clicked her tongue over there as Winston was simply took the attack while lowering the Natu's Defense by the first move. Realizing what would happen next, the Natu jumped away and managed to avoid the Water Gun, since it was ready for it, but due to Natu's new position the beam would harmlessly strike the ground, and Ellyn's plan failed.

'Tsk.' Ellyn made an annoyed sound. '… Keep pecking. Avoid the Water Guns...' She commanded, for the Natu was the only thing that stood between Maggy and a Water Gun.

Meanwhile, #2 found herself tackled by Nincada and Aron, as they headed towards Maggy. The Hoppip was unable to get out of the way in time, and was carried forward as a shield. Maple panicked, seeing how the small Pokémon was now held in the way for an Ember of any kind. 'Ember! Ember, and don't hit #2!' Maple commanded, but that was rather difficult. Maggy charged her fire, and attempted.

'… HOP!' The fireball flew and hit #2, who due to the fire flew out of the grip of the Pokémon that were using her as shield. This then meant that both Nincada and Aron had a straight path directly to Maggy, who stood after having just used an Ember with nothing to defend herself with. The two Pokémon hit, smashing into Maggy, who flew backwards...!

'M-MAAAG...!' … And fell over in a heap on the ground. Maggy has fainted.

While the Pokémon was hot, neither Aron nor Nincada suffered burns.

'Maggy!' Maple sounded out in distress, but the Pokédex informed her that the Pokémon was out of commision with a little sound, and she could no longer continue doing battle.

'Eh.' Simon looked down at his Pokédex. 'Synthesis?' #2, way over there now after having launched by the Ember, threw her tiny hands in the air again. 'HOP!' … Another green glow came around her, and she regained health. Not all the damage she had suffered from the Super-Effective Ember was healed, but considerable amount. Not that it helped a lot now.

'… Tsk.' Ellyn clicked her tongue again, watching the scene.

It would appear that the Dawkin, Martin and Abigail team had gained a considerable advantage.

@PlatinumSkink

Claire couldn't help but smirk as her plan was executed to near-flawless execution. Ralia hung onto the Swinub as best as her little arms would allow her. Certainly she had some difficulty, but for the most part they had gotten what they had wanted - a good few hits in without taking much damage themselves. So when Ralia was thrown off, she wasn't concerned. The Ralts wasn't able to land on her feet though, but was quick to get back up and doing a rather dramatic pose.

"Rrrralts!" She excitedly shouted, obviously finding the little impromptu rodeo a good workout. Claire wasn't concerned at all that Ewan had used Odor Sleuth at all either. Perhaps it was overconfidence, but she was pretty certain she had this battle in the bag. How could she lose, after all?

"Alright, Ralia! Hit 'em as hard as you can!" She ordered, just as Ewan ordered Swinub to use Odor Sleuth. "Let's finish this up, shall we?" With barely a second passing after the command, Ralia spun, turning to face Swinub and locking eyes with it. Lifting its arms into the air once again, the psychic type's eyes glowed with energy as another confusion attack was launched at the Swinub.

Dawkin nodded, pleased by Martin's quick thinking. "Well done Martin." Magby down, now the only threat that remained was Natu. Not to say this was over, from what he could tell Ellyn was a sound strategist herself, he'd do well to not underestimate her. Still, it was nearly a 3 on 1 at this point. This had been fun and even challenging for a bit, but the battle was over for them, sooner or later. He was pleased his first battle had gone so in his favor, if Dawkin was superstitious he would've believed to start off so well was a good omen. But he wasn't. "Good job Aron, approach Natu! Abigail we can take it from here, simply fire a watergun if it tries to escape. Martin let's begin boxing Natu in, if it attacks one of us we can both retailiate, if it doesn't we'll get close enough it can't dodge or escape." Confident that this would the end of things Dawkin looked at Ellyn and grinned confidently, "I think we all know how this ends, why don't you save everyone some trouble and give up?" He said boldly. It was true that Dawkin was perhaps being overly confident, ignoring Hoppip and believing in his victory before it arrived, but he was a naturally confident person and he had no reason to believe otherwise.

Biting her lips she tryied to find a good tactic to her next move. The ember did hit its target, but didn't work as she was wanted. Of course Flame could use tail whip again, but she was stuck to the ground because of the Flabebe's Vine whip.

Sighing Donna desiced to use ember again "Flame use your ember to the Flabebes Vine whip" she ordered, thinking if she could use Flabebes own move to get direct hit by using ember.

Flame struggled and tryied to get free from the Flabebes move, getting hit as the flower pokemon tackles her. When she heared her trainers command, she stopped moving and looked at the pokemon front of her, before used ember again.