Pokemon: Mind and Soul [IC / PG / Not Accepting / Co-Hosted by Skaia]

[Sethera 290]

As the battle between Ivan and the Vulpix went on, Belle glanced around the area once again. She had finally sorted out her Poké Balls, so that was one less thing to do. Now all she had to do was sit back and watch the fight. Seeing a capture in action would help a lot in learning how to catch Pokémon.

But, something was bothering her.

Her Rattata.

Much as she wanted to, she couldn't just leave it in its ball forever. At some point, if she wanted to use it, she'd have to let it out and try to train it to not attack her. And, with her companions busy, this would be a good opportunity to do so, hot as it was.

Letting out a put-upon sigh, the girl released Moo first. If the cow was there, then it could restrain the other whenever it tried to attack her. Once more, she patted herself on the back for choosing the grass type. Not only was it calm and obedient and easy to take care of, but it was also useful for more than just battling.

Upon exiting the ball, the Poamoo looked around and lowed in confusion. Which made sense. So far, she'd only let it out to fight. "I'm going to try to train up that Rattata," she told the cow. "You need to restrain it with Vine Whip whenever it tries to attack me." She felt a bit stupid talking to her Pokémon, but they apparently could understand human speech, going off of how they obediently followed orders.

The cow nodded, so without further ado, she opened the ball holding the Rattata.

Upon release, the rat lunged for her, but was stopped in place by the vines that appeared from both sides of Moo's horns.

"Okay, listen up here," Belle said, stepping closer. "You might have taken me by surprise last time, but this time, I have the advantage. You understand?" she leaned in closer--but not too close--to eye it. "Whether you like it or not, I'm your trainer and you're my Pokémon. We need to get along if this is going to work out at all. Or I'll just keep you in the ball for eternity, got that?"

The Rattata struggled against the vines, gnashing its teeth at her.

The girl shook her head. "We're getting nowhere like this." She perked up at seeing a Fletchling exit some tall grass and hop over to where they were. "Perfect timing. Rattata, if you want to prove yourself, now's the time." She nodded at Moo.

As soon as the vines released themselves, the Rattata lunged for her once more, but was stopped once again by Moo's Vine Whip. The rat hissed against the bonds, resuming its struggle.

"No no no no no!" Belle scolded. "It's like you're deaf or something. Look, target there," she pointed at the Fletchling. "Trainer here," she pointed at herself. "Me no target." She glanced at Ivan. "I hope you're having better luck with that Vulpix than I am with this stupid Rattata," she groaned.

[LordCowCow 842]

The Tyrogue seemed to cringe as the fire splashed against him, and looked away from Rus when the attack landed. "Ah, Tyrogue, don't worry it's just a small fire! Fake O-wait...no, Tackle!" The girl seemed to stumble over her words in her haste and the Tyrogue didn't seem very confident in its next move. But it tucked down into a football tackle position and ran at Rus full speed.

"Hit it with a Mach Punch right after!" Dinah called out, pumping her fist in the air for emphasis.

Though it seemed that her Pokemon was somewhat hesitant, getting so near the Fire type Pokemon.

Spoiler

Short yes I know

For some reason Tyrogue doesn't seem to like fire. Full moveset now cause doesn't matter anymore
Tyrouge, level 10, Guts, Mach Punch, Fake Out, Foresight, Tackle

---

"As I thought, there's certainly something unnatural about this. Someone or something put these here. But to do what?"

"Issa rock." Naomi said, slumping while standing as she watched Milla go about her business. "It does rock things."

"Nomi, do you think uh... Bug was it? There might be something going on under the sand. You think maybe Bug could give it a look?"

"Eh?" Naomi responded. She looked at Bug. Who looked at her. Neither of them seemed to say anything for a while. Then Naomi stepped closer to Milla and presented Bug to her. "Ask'im." She muttered with a shrug.

She was holding Bug out front, hands on his side, as the Trapinch stared at Milla for a few moments. Then its mouth slowly opened and...its head darted forward and it grabbed Milla's shirt and started to tug at it.

"Ah, noooo." Naomi said, but didn't do anything to stop the Pokemon.

---

Paula was surprised, and dismayed, to see the speed of the Poliwag. The Water Gun striking her Kabuto almost immediately after emerging from its ball.

"Tsk, my strategy...that's why I came to this desert to train...Oh well, come on Kabuto don't let that stop you, Absorb, then Scratch!"

BGM

The Pokemon did an affirmative squirm and glowed as it hit Bubbles with fairly weak but super effective Absorb. It then darted forward at incredible speed and delivered a scratch with its small front claws upon the Poliwag. The two Pokemon both were moving much faster than what Kanon had seen so far. She would have to give the orders as fast as she could if she wanted to keep up with Paula. Who seemed used to this sort of thing from training Kabuto.

"Alright Leer, don't let up!" The girl called out afterwards.

Spoiler

Supah Speed Anime Battle!

Kabuto, level 12, Swift Swim, Harden, Scratch, Absorb, Leer

Probably won't use Harden so just mentioned that as well.

 

[Skaia 579]

As Rus's fire hit, the Lepash looked fiercely towards the Tyrogue despite the opposition seeming much more timid about the fight. Jacklyn, seeing the Tyrogue go in for a tackle shouted, "come on Rus! Go and dodge!" In spite of Rus not really paying attention to his trainer's, rather vague, commands the Lepash still managed to hop out of the way from the Tyrogue's awkward tackle. Letting loose yet another few balls of flame towards the small fighting type. Jacklyn, meanwhile just shouted saying, "good job but come on wait for me to say something!" 

After being hit by the fire, the Tyrogue still seemed to be somewhat skittish about fighting but with Dinah's orders still managed to power through and go in for a swift punch towards Rus. The speed of the punch caught Rus off guard, and so being hit by the fist  Rus was knocked back slightly. Still, now barely any distance between the two, the Tyrogue would see that Rus was not only fierce in expression but also somewhat angry. Jacklyn, seeing the opportunity shouted, "alright Rus, now go in for a tack-" Rus instead went for a point blank Ember. 

[Doggo 218]

Milla returned Bug's stare as he was presented to her to be asked personally to dig about the pillar. The eyes of human and pokemon met, and for a moment a deep understanding that stretched beyond time and space set in. Truly, this was the wonder of pokemon. This connection to the universe and the greater forces behind it. Such wonder and awe hidden away in the lovely orange carapace. Alas, the cosmos were not to be understood at this time as the trainer took note of the pokemon clamping onto her shirt with its mouth and tugging at it. She looked down and processed it for a moment longer than she ought to have. Nomi made no real effort other than verbal to stop Bug. Milla meanwhile remained mostly calm and placed a hand on Bug's head before beginning to stroke it gently a few times.

"Come on Bug, I need you to let go. I wanted to ask you to dig around the pillar for us." she started asking of the Trapinch. As she continued speaking she began grunting some here in there as she tried pulling back against the ground-type's pulls on her shirt while attempting to prevent it ripping. "Bug- please I ne- ed you to stop." she attempted to say, the tugs getting stronger as she did so. Rondo locked on to the Trapinch harrassing his trainer, his eyes narrowing as he perceived a threat. The Sneasel brandished his claws, readying an uncalled for Scratch as he darted in. Milla fought against the playful Bug a bit more before taking note of her pokemon beginning to move.

"Wait, Rondo!" she called out hoping to stop him. But it was too late. There was no stopping this clash of weasel and bug. One would have to yield. Perhaps this too was perceiving the universal truth of pokemon. But somehow it all felt much less philosophical than the earlier stare down.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Doggo

[reparoni 161]

 

---

Po wasn't sure why he had order for a Tackle, but he didn't really care, as he threw his body at the Vulpix. Startled, the Vulpix wagged its tail back and forth, causing Po's defense to lower from the Tail Whip. As this was happening, Ivan felt something tap his foot. Looking down, he saw a Pokeball. "What the-" He said, turning towards Belle who was distracted with her own thing. He was a little annoyed she wasn't really paying attention, but knew his opportunity when he saw it. He was pretty sure it was empty, although it would have been really embarrassing if it wasn't.

With a toss, Ivan chucked the Pokeball towards the Vulpix, bumping it on the head as the familiar red beam of light shot out of it. He anxiously saw the ball bob back and forth. He was sure he had weakened it enough to catch it, but you never knew when it came with catching Pokemon. He let out a sigh of relief as the ball let out a click. He walked over to the Pokeball that now had a Vulpix in it, before putting it away. He turned back to Belle. "And it's as easy as..."

He was now witnessing Belle trying to fight a Fletchling with her Ratatta, although it looked more like her Poamoo was fighting the rat. "You could say that." He said bluntly, as Po walked in front of him to get a closer view at the fiesta that was these two Pokemon. His eyes drifted towards the Ratatta, as Po wondered what had the rat done to be restrained like this. Ivan crossing his arms. "You sure this Ratatta ain't more trouble than it's worth? I mean it's just a Ratatta..."

[yui 577]

Location: Route 103
Poké: 850

"Tsk, my strategy...that's why I came to this desert to train...Oh well, come on Kabuto don't let that stop you, Absorb, then Scratch!"

"Alright Leer, don't let up!"

"Don't you let up either!" Kanon knew that pokemon could be pretty fast creatures. She grew up with a pretty speedy sort, after all. But if someone had told her that pokemon as small and young as the two in front of her could move like they were, she'd have trouble believing them without seeing it herself. Kanon barely had time to process what was going on before needing to give out orders. Luckily, it wasn't like Kanon had particularly complex orders in mind. "Keep those water guns coming!" The poliwag made a starting dash, then skidded along the wet sand as if it had a film of water over it, spewing water out of its mouth at the enemy kabuto as it slid in a wide circle around the fight between the two.

[LordCowCow 842]

Rus's Ember attack struck the Tyrogue full on. It didn't so much as knock him back as cause him to recoil from the heat and energy. He stumbled back a few steps with his eyes closed tightly. Then Jacklyn would notice something. With how many Embers Rus had launched it was almost inevitable but the Pokemon had been Burned.

However that didn't seem to be as much a problem to Dinah as she'd think. The girl smirked. "Well, fine then, now you've done it! Tyrogue go for a Tackle, show them the power of your Guts!"

The Tyrogue opened their eyes and there was a determined look on their face as they tucked their shoulder down and ran forward to ram Rus with more force behind it than usual.

Spoiler

Tyrouge, level 10, Guts, Mach Punch, Fake Out, Foresight, Tackle

And yep, burned, and low health, however he's now activated Guts so beware of that! Feel free to do a few moves next post to wrap up this part of the battle. Note Dinah has 1 more Mon.

---

Naomi stumbled back as Bug wormed his way out of her grip in order to clash with Milla's Sneasel. The two Pokemon rolled around on the ground, neither really seeming to be using the conventional moves in their arsenal as they awkwardly, due to one of them not having arms, wrestled along the ground. Getting the wet sand all over them as they rolled back and forth.

She was unsure what to do and just watched blankly for a moment. Naomi considered bringing Princess out to sort them out but would that just add to the madness? She tilted her head towards Milla and questioned her "Are we...battlin?" She asked. Maybe this was just another way that trainers did battle. It seemed very strange to her but it wasn't as though she had seen many battles before this journey.

She backed away as the wrestling Pokemon came closer to her, bumping into Milla as she did.

As if by instinct upon making contact with something Naomi slumped over and put her full weight on the girl.

---

The Kabuto was hit by Bubbles's water and was sent skidding across the ground. Their latest Scratch attack having been avoided through the rapid movement of the Poliwag. The trainer didn't seem to be ready to give up though. "Alright Kabuto, cut em off at the pass, go in for another one!"

The Kabuto braced itself against the sand before launching forward, aiming for midway in the Poliwag's arc of movement and scratching across their belly as they reached them.

It was struck by another Water Gun but then slipped around the Poliwag to go in for another scratch.

Spoiler

Alright Yui, go ahead and make the most of the situation, write out the fighto

Kabuto, level 12, Swift Swim, Harden, Scratch, Absorb, Leer

They both would have roughly 30-40% HP atm

Also for Andx, left it open if Milla is able to stay standing or what shenanigans you want to ensue.

 

[Doggo 218]

Milla could only watch as her Sneasel attacked the Trapinch that was clinging to her shirt. Bug switched his attention to Rondo as the two began wrestling with each other in a most interesting display given the relative size of Bug's head and limbs to its body. Rondo on the other hand was proportioned more like a human and one would think this fact would give him the advantage in wrangling a bug like creature yet neither seemed to be immediately prevailing over the other. The girl could only blankly stare at the whole affair for a few seconds before brushing her shirt and shifting it about back into its proper position while Nomi questioned if they were having a battle because of this.

"It wasn't my intention, I should have put Rondo away soone-" she began as the two pokemon began moving their way, causing Nomi to back up to stay out of it. As she did the two trainers made contact and then Nomi seemed to lose her balance as the entirety of her weight now pushed into Milla. Due to the unexpected nature of it all, Milla was much less than ready to support Nomi's weight and so back the two fell into the sand. Before she knew what was happening Milla was looking up at the sky rather than the feuding pokemon and she felt the warmth of the sand all along her back. Her new friend meanwhile was atop her to which she began scrambling to try and get her off without being incredibly rude about it.

"I'm sorry NomI, I should have backed up too" she groaned as she tried shifting about in this awkward position. Why she was apologizing in this she hardly knew. Perhaps it was to try and stay on her new teammates' good sides, lest they leave her as well. At the moment she was just worried Nomi might have hurt herself in the fall though. Rondo meanwhile, who had been trading headlocks with Bug somehow, took note of his trainers plight and so ran off to begin poking and grabbing at Nomi's leg attempting to pull the girl off.

[Skaia 579]

Jacklyn looked frustrated as Rus seemed to be more or  less ignoring her, fighting the Tyrogue. Rus, meanwhile was annoyed as his opponent, after being pelted with so much fire, seemed more ready than ever to fight. Furrowing his bunny brow, the Lepash got ready as the Tyrogue started to get ready for a tackling motion. As it seemed to get ready to fire off yet another ember and match its foe, Jacklyn simply shouted, "Rus, go. Dodge. Do it like, to the side or over it, show him your bunny hops!" 

Rus, actively ignoring this, figured that the Tyrogue was on its last legs and simply fired out another ember as they made their way over. However with its new found vigor and strength, the Tyrogue went from leaning forward and running to leaning back, throwing its legs forward. As it did, it changed from a shoulder tackle to a sliding tackle, sliding underneath the ember and into the Lepash. Grimacing as it went flying back, Rus rolled back and landed on its feet, firing out yet another ember. Getting back to its feet, however, the Tyrogue assumed a fighting stance and at Dinah's request, rather than dodge, pulled back its fist to begin a mach punch. With its boosted strength from the burn, the Tyrogue swiftly punched the fire head on, seemingly not harmed at all by it as the fire was snuffed out in the clash. 

Both Rus and Jacklyn were frustrated by this, Jacklyn more so by her pokemon's complete disobedience of her. However, looking between the two, it seemed  that Rus was going to just keep trying to out muscle the Tyrogue. Jacklyn kept thinking on what she could do to both get Rus to listen to her and for him to win. After all, even if she wasn't the best trainer she could see that this was going towards their loss. If Tyrogue was far away then he had enough time to dodge the ember, and if he was close then he would just win in the clash of strength...or would he? 

Snapping as she had figured something out, Jacklyn shouted, "Rus, if you want to show him how strong you are then show it to him. Go, get in his face and tackle!" Rus was surprised by this sudden declaration of Jacklyn, but seeing the girl's seriousness in her expression decided to go with it. Rushing forward, Dinah told her Tyrogue to match it, and the two ran towards each other. "Brace yourself Rus and keep at it!" Without a change of course, the two pokemon slammed into each other. However, though Tyrogue was stronger and won out in the clash, Rus had managed to minimize the force of the impact, and as a result wasn't actually sent hurtling back from the tackle. Instead, being injured as he was, a red aura seemed to blaze around the Lepash. "Alright! Now Rus, beat him with an ember!"

As Tyrogue reeled his fist back for one more mach punch, Rus inhaled deeply as flames started to form in its mouth. Launching out a much larger fireball then before and with no move to maneuver away from the fire type, Tyrogue's only option was to clash attacks. And so, pushing its fist through the flames, grimaced as it did so, the attack entirely engulfing it. Though the fist made its way to Rus, all it did was weakly tap against him as the Tyrogue fell down, unconscious. 

"Wooohoooo!" Cheering again, Rus letting out a triumphant puff of smoke, Jacklyn pointed towards Dinah once again. "How's that for you?!"

[yui 577]

BGM

"Alright Kabuto, cut em off at the pass, go in for another one!"

Kanon's poliwag received another scratch for its troubles, but the opposing kabuto was met with more water directly in the face. From both sides of the scuffle, trainer orders came out as fast as they could manage, and the pokemon in the fray obeyed. However, both contestants were looking pretty roughed up. The poliwag skidded directly at the kabuto along the wet surface, spewing out more water with inertia on its side. Only to be met with another absorbing attack. And then, the kabuto's little claws came up, scratching down on poliwag right in the weak point. This wasn't looking good. The round blue creature slid back, away from its foe, awaiting what would probably be Kanon's final order in this battle.

"Fire another one, away from kabuto! Full power!"

Everyone besides Kanon seemed confused by that one. But the poliwag took a deep breath, and with all the force its little body could muster, spat out a much stronger jet of water from its mouth. With enough force that with the wet surface and the critter's speed being enhanced by the rain, it shot across the battlefield like a rubber bullet, ramming directly into the other trainer's kabuto. An impact that - had it been just a teensy bit faster - would have happened before the other trainer even had time to acknowledge it and tell her kabuto what to do. However, that teensy lack of speed was enough to warrant one last scratch in an impact that kicked up a small cloud of sand around the two pokemon.

Kanon watched and waited for the dust to settle. And when it did...

It seemed the two pokemon had knocked each other out in that final clash.

"Let's... call it a draw, then." Kanon returned her poliwag to its pokeball. She held up the pokeball, plus the one her inkay had been in, plus the one containing her rockruff who hadn't stepped into this fight. "I've still got one more pokemon, but calling it a win just because of that doesn't seem fair."

[LordCowCow 842]

"How's that for you?!"

"Guess that wasn't too bad. But you're out of luck now! You don't have enough energy to take on my final Pokemon. Especially not when they're this strong!" With a confident toss Dinah sent out her final Pokemon.

A small, but stubborn-looking, Tepig emerged from the ball. Once it saw Rus it snorted and pawed at the ground. Ready and raring to go. "Alright, time for a starter battle! Let's see how long you can last before your inevitable defeat! Tackle, go!"

The Tepig let out another, louder, snort and charged in towards Rus. Aiming to slam its, slightly larger, body into Rus's own.

Spoiler

Full moveset cause wynaut

Tepig, level 12, Blaze, Tackle, Tail Whip, Ember, Odor Sleuth

Also, Rus level up!

---

"I'm sorry NomI, I should have backed up too"

"Hm?" Responded Naomi, looking up at Milla from her position on top of her. "Nothin happened s'okay." She said. She laid her head back and let out a long sigh. It seemed like she didn't really have much intention to get up even as Milla moved underneath her. If the girl got up she would continue to lay there as well.

Naomi barely noticed Rondo's actions but she did absently kick her leg a bit as the Sneasel pulled on it.

Bug, now no longer in the middle of a wrestling match, wandered its way over towards Rondo. He looked over at the Sneasel, then at the two trainers on the ground, and meandered further along. Stopping by Naomi's face he opened his mouth up and grabbed some of the girl's hair and began to tug at it. "Ahhh, stop." Naomi said, weakly pushing at the Trapinch.

---

"I've still got one more pokemon, but calling it a win just because of that doesn't seem fair."

Paula didn't seem too excited about that idea. "I don't know, it doesn't really feel like a tie. I don't even remember the start of the battle even." She winced and rubbed her head. "Ah, where'd this headache come from anyway..."

She shrugged then and continued "Guess if you think that's for the best. Looks like I have to practice a bit more. But first I'm going back to the city to heal up." As she started passing Kanon by she said "Good battle, I think."

Spoiler

Which city Paula means is up to interpretation for reasons. But yeah, battle over, gasp. Time to move on ahead I s'pose.

 

[Doggo 218]

It was a complicated struggle Milla faced as the only one of four parties actively trying to resolve the situation at hand. Nomi seemed content to stay where she was while both pokemon pushing and pulling only frustrated her attempts at getting her teammate off of her. But eventually, after recounting a determined melody she once heard, Milla managed to roll Nomi and herself over onto their sides, and from there was able to push some distance between them, or at least enough for her to sit up herself.  The scramble began for a pokeball as the girl recalled Rondo to hopefully ease up the chaos. She had a feeling Rondo was going to be particularly cautious around Nomi and Bug now which was less than desirable. With a deep sigh of relief she began the process of standing up after the impromptu bout of wrestling and began brushing the sand off her body and clothing.

"Now then, Bug..." she began but her eyes caught sight of Kanon and Paula bringing their battle to a close. Things seemed much more peaceful now than they had when both trainers had attempted to assault the other in the middle of the battle. "Kanon!" Milla called from the sidelines as she began moving towards her. "Is everything alright? I was wondering if the two of you were going to fight after your pokemon were done." she commented with an earnest curiosity.

[Skaia 579]

The victory of Rus and Jacklyn was short lived as she saw Dinah send out her next pokemon. Looking far more surprised then one would probably expect, the girl proclaimed, "wait you have three?" The girl seemed to realize suddenly that things were much worse than they appeared. However Rus looked to the girl, glaring at her yet again as she seemed to be put off by this disadvantage in numbers, to which the girl nodded. Looking back to her opponent she said, "we'll show you! My Rus is waaaay better and stronger and awesomer then your fire type!" The Lepash let out a puff of smoke from its mouth as it got ready to fight once more. 

As the Tepig started to charge towards it, Jacklyn just pointed saying, "go on and show him what you got Rus!" Now shifting its glare to the Tepig, Rus opted to attempt trying to clash with its opponent head on and attempt to outmuscle it, responding to a tackle with a tackle of its own. 

[Sethera 290]

"You could say that." Ivan replied bluntly.

Belle frowned in annoyance. While she was glad that he had managed to capture that Vulpix, she couldn't help but wish things were going just as smoothly on her end.

As the boy's Pancham walked over to get a closer view, Ivan crossed his arms. "You sure this Ratatta ain't more trouble than it's worth? I mean it's just a Ratatta..."

"Might be," the blue-haired girl replied honestly. "Bu' if I give up here, that's admitting defeat, isn't it?" That was one thing she couldn't stand. She hadn't reached Challenger on League of Legendaries by giving up. It was easy and natural to be lazy, but once she had made up her mind to do something, she had to see it through. That was one of the reasons she was still on this stupid journey, after all.

As if it could understand her, the Rattata let out an angry hiss. Sighing, Belle was about to return it to its ball, when the curious Fletchling hopped even closer, letting out a curious chirrup at the rat. Gnashing its teeth toward the bird, the Rattata struggled against its bonds once more. At that, the bird flapped its wings and, with an affronted look, charged forward, slamming against the rat.

Screeching, the rat chomped down on the vines. With a low of pain, the vines loosened, and the rat dove forward. Not for Belle, or for Moo...but for the Fletchling.

"Oh wow. It's actually doing wha' I asked." Belle paused as she watched the two fight for a bit. "Or maybe s'just mad."

[yui 577]

"I don't know, it doesn't really feel like a tie. I don't even remember the start of the battle even. Ah, where'd this headache come from anyway... Guess if you think that's for the best. Looks like I have to practice a bit more. But first I'm going back to the city to heal up. Good battle, I think."

"It was. You shouldn't go off on your own though." Pointing at - and making a point to not touch - the nearby pillar, Kanon explained "I guess you touched one of these and got hypnotized by it. Sounds crazy, but I've seen more crazy things in this region over the last couple days than the rest of my life combined. I broke you out of it by throwing a soup can at your head, which, uh... that's the headache. Sorry about that. If you don't mind sticking around and waiting for some traveling partners of mine to get back, I can cook you something nice to make up for it later, if we have to stop and set up camp."

[LordCowCow 842]

Naomi didn't resist as she was rolled onto her side. In fact she just flopped on over onto her stomach, arms down at her side, without changing much else about her position. She did crane her neck a bit and rested her chin on the sand. Staring Bug right in the face. Who stared back. The two of them simply lay like that for a while as Milla and Kanon spoke.

The trainer that Kanon had been fighting didn't seem to entirely understand what Kanon was talking about. "Uh, like, a Pokemon attack or something? Hypnosis? Does that actually happen in anything other than movies?" She shrugged. "Well, I feel fine now, I guess. But suppose I'll be careful in the future." As to Kanon's suggestion of traveling together she waved them off. "Nah, I gotta get stronger, and I have to do that on my own. I'm heading back to the route to train up against some more Fire types. You be careful though, this place is easy to get lost in. There should be a city off a bit to the north there though."

And with that she left. Casting a glance at Naomi, who had finally returned Bug to its ball and was now laying with her arms above her head.

Naomi was humming as she rolled back over onto her back and sat up. "S'pose we should find somewhere not s'sandy."

With some struggle she managed to get to her feet and shambled off with the others back into the whipping sand.

There were several other pillars in the distance as they moved towards where the city should be. Each one they passed they'd notice the same. The sand didn't blow around the area where the pillars were. And overhead, even through the sand, they could feel the heat of the sun beating down on them. The farther along they went the more Naomi would slouch and drag her feet.

Spoiler

Moving along a bit, if you want to stop at the pillars along the way or not go for it, will have a bit more happening next post but y'all getting closer to the city now.

---

While Rus managed to hit the Tepig first it was to find out that the pig Pokemon had more muscle behind it. The strike landed but Rus was tossed backwards by the Tepig's return attack. "Did you really think that'd work? Just look at the size difference, my Tepig has a lot more strength than that bunny of yours, and now its time we really prove it!" She pumped her fist in the air. "Go on, Tackle again, it won't be long now before you win this!"

Pawing at the ground the Tepig snorted and charged recklessly at Rus once more. Not seeming to be bothered by anything his opponent would do and instead focused on his frontal charge.

[reparoni 161]

 

---

Ivan nodded at Belle's comment about defeat. "You're more determined than I thought." He said, giving the girl a thumbs up. "You'll figure it out." He said, before turning his attention to the bird that had just approached them. Probably due to the ruckus the Pokemon were causing. Po cracked his knuckles, ready to take on the bird, and was caught off-guard when Ivan place his hand in front of him to stop him. The Pancham turned upwards, frustrated and confused. "Watch." Po turned back towards the Fletchling, although now there was an angry Ratatta trying to attack it.

Belle seemed just as confused as to what was happening. Ivan placed his hand on her shoulder. "Now's yer chance. Try and tell it to do something. Like, uh..." He paused for a second, not actually knowing what moves Ratatta knew. "Tackle, or something." He shrugged, crossing his arms. "Who knows, maybe if you're inspiring enough it'll start listening to you. Or, at the very least, stop attacking you."

[Skaia 579]

Jacklyn grimaced at the clash of tackles followed by Dinah's chiding, with Rus himself seeming annoyed by being totally out muscled. All the same, as Dinah boasted that this would be her win, in frustration the girl shouted, "don't count us out just yet! Right Rus!" The Lepash let out a defiant cry as it got ready to face down its opponent. As the Tepig began to rush towards the fire rabbit, Jacklyn shouted, "alright Rus! Get ready to hit him fast! Hit him hard! Get ready to jump and ember! Show him who's boss!" With a determined look in his eyes, Rus began to rush towards the Tepig. Before the two collided, though, the Lepash leaped upward into the air, making its way over and past the Tepig before turning around and letting loose and empowered ember towards its foe. 

[Doggo 218]

With a battle concluded, a Bug captured, and a pillar superficially investigated, the team was finally back together and continuing on their way through the heat of the desert. Ever more similar pillars dotted the landscape as they continued but never could Milla pick up on any particular differences between. The issue was going to have to be a slow burn on the back of her mind for a long while, she could already tell. As they continued walking, fatigue from the heat was clearly setting in. Nomi in particular seemed to feeling it most directly as she began to slump more and more in her step. At least they probably weren't long for the next city at this point. One could hope anyway.

"I do hope the city's a bit cooler." Milla managed to vocalize as they walked, wondering if perhaps she commented on the situation Nomi might open up about needing to take a break. "How far out are we do you think?" she added while scanning the immediate area. Ever more sand in every direction, as expected. Wild pokemon scurried about every so often here and there. Kanon's battle from earlier brought to mind the idea of training her current team some more. The girl wasn't keen on another addition, not so soon after Andante. She wanted to form something of a relationship with the Litleo before rushing off to another new teammate. But while she pondered and spoke she continued walking, for stopping now surely meant taking a prolonged break.

[yui 577]

"Nah, I gotta get stronger, and I have to do that on my own. I'm heading back to the route to train up against some more Fire types. You be careful though, this place is easy to get lost in. There should be a city off a bit to the north there though." 

"S'pose we should find somewhere not s'sandy."

"Let's. Someplace less hot, too." As the trio continued through the desert, they found much of the same. More sand, more sun bearing down on everyone, and more of those pillars scattered about. As curious as she was about just what was going on here, part of Kanon felt as if she didn't truly want to know. Not enough to warrant a close-up investigation anyway, after what she saw come of the last person to perhaps try that. While she could definitely keep going, it wasn't hard to tell that Kanon's cohorts - Nomi in particular - were tiring out from the desert heat. Just as well. While she could have definitely kept going, Kanon had to admit, this heat was pretty tiring.

"I do hope the city's a bit cooler. How far out are we do you think?"

"Unless this entire part of the region is abandoned and desolate, we should be able to make it somewhere before nightfall. It's important to take short breaks when you're going long distances though." And so, after settling on a location near a pillar so that more sand wouldn't be blown into the group, Kanon took a seat on the hot sand beneath her. Aside from the barrene land, she was starting to understand why people generally didn't take up residence in the desert. Too much sand.

And as Kanon was about to learn, sand wasn't the only woe the desert had in store for her. Her hand slipped, dropping into the sand, whereupon the group could hear a distinctly nasty CRUNCH sound. Followed immediately by Kanon's howl of pain as she yanked her arm out of the sand, to find an orange pokemon attached to it, jaws clamped down firmly on Kanon's arm. Her first instinct was to slam the critter into the nearby pillar to try and shake it off, but she hesitated. She wasn't interested in a hypnotized wild pokemon gnawing on her arm, and even less interested in being hypnotized herself.

So instead, she reached into her pocket with her un-gnawed arm, procuring an empty pokeball and slamming it into the creature. And then immediately throwing the poke ball as hard as she could once the pokemon was inside, watching it soar off where she couldn't get bitten again. Did it stay in the poke ball? Kanon didn't know. She didn't care. She just cared that it was away from her and she could assess the damage to her arm. It wasn't pretty, but it certainly could have been worse.

"A short break," Kanon reiterated through clenched teeth.

[LordCowCow 842]

The Tepig had tried to meet Rus head on. So when the other Pokemon jumped its Tackle continued on and missed entirely. He skidded to a halt as the Ember came towards him. "Show her your own Ember, Tepig!" Dinah called out, pointing aggressively at the fire bunny.

"Bu bu." The Tepig responded and, bracing themselves, fired off embers from their snout towards Rus. The two attacks collided but Rus's prevailed. Showering the Tepig with its blazing glory.

Despite the Tepig's resistance it seemed that the Ember attack had caused some good damage. But the Tepig wasn't done for and, as Rus started to land, they charged him once more with a Tackle attack.

---

"How far out are we do you think?"

"Been walkin f'hours, gotta be halfway cross the region b'now." Naomi said.

The moment that Kanon seemed to take a break Naomi had slumped down onto the ground. Simply falling down onto her knees and sitting there with her body slouched forward. "M'feet feel like they got hit by Ember." She muttered.

When Kanon shouted out in pain the girl managed to look up just in time to see the Trapinch temporarily attached to her arm. She stared in confusion for a moment before checking Bug's ball. Noticing that he was still in the ball she spoke up, "Wasn't mine." It took her a bit to stand up but as she did she realized she had no idea what she intended to do. "Um....I got s'marshmallows." She said, tilting her head as she tried to figure out what they were supposed to do about a Pokemon bite.

"Excuse me, you should get that covered quickly. The sand will get in otherwise."

Emerging from the sandstorm, speaking in  a soft voice, was a short, male, figure. As he walked up to them he unwrapped a scarf that was covering his face.

He was carrying the Trapinch that had attacked Kanon under one arm. The Pokemon looked, as much as a Trapinch could, ashamed.

"I don't mean to intrude. My name is Tavares...do you mind if I..." He gestured at Kanon's arm and pulled out some bandages from a bag under his cloak. He set the Trapinch down who lowered its head but didn't go anywhere. "And, um, please don't be mad at him. I believe he thought you were trying to invade his home."

[Sethera 290]

Ivan nodded, giving a thumbs up. "You're more determined than I thought. You'll figure it out."

Belle sighed. "I hope so." It was frustrating, dealing with Pokémon. She had never, in her wildest dreams, had thought she would ever have to-- Well, maybe back then. But that was all in the past. There was no point in getting lost in memory lane, especially when she had to figure out just what she was going to do.

As if reading her mind, Ivan placed his hand on her shoulder. "Now's yer chance. Try and tell it to do something. Like, uh..." He paused for a second. "Tackle, or something." He shrugged, crossing his arms. "Who knows, maybe if you're inspiring enough it'll start listening to you. Or, at the very least, stop attacking you."

"Inspiring? Me?" Belle deadpanned. "I doubt it. Still, yer right. Shouldn't waste s'opportunity." She turned back to the fight. "Uhhh, rat thing, use Tackle." Her voice came out monotone and not very inspiring at all, but the Pokémon then Tackled the other. Still, the girl had the feeling it was because it was already going to do that. As the Fletchling Pecked at it with surprising ferocity for such a small bird, the rat winced and jumped back to create some distance between the two, tail twitching as it scanned its foe with narrowed eyes.

Seeing another opportunity to speak up, Belle nodded to herself. "Rat thing, I mean Rattata, use Tackle again." She had no clue what moves Rattata knew, but if Tackle worked, then it worked.

The rat's ears went back and then forward. It had obviously heard her, but then, it stubbornly stayed in place, an orange light surrounding its body.

"What move's that?" the girl wondered. She was far past the point where she would care about being annoyed at this Pokémon not obeying her. She would've been more surprised if it had, actually. With a start, she nodded. "Oh. Yeah, wait, the Pokédex." She still didn't have a complete grasp of everything it could do, but it couldn't hurt. Aiming the Pokédex at the Rattata, the girl's eyes widened as a list of information scrolled across the screen.

"Okay...moves...looks like you know Tackle, Tail Whip, Focus Energy, and Quick Attack. You weren't wagging your tail, so...Focus Energy?"

The Rattata ignored her, but that was fine. "Rattata, now use Quick Attack."

As the rat ran toward the Fletchling in what was decidedly not a Quick Attack--in fact, it looked more like a Tackle, its opponent had heard Belle, and seemed to take heed of her words, rushing forward in a burst of speed that took not only Belle but also her Pokémon off guard, avoiding the other's attack at the same time.

"That's what you get for not listening to me!" The girl wasn't sure if that was actually the case or not, but she needed to get this stupid rat to listen to her somehow.

Hissing, the Rattata looked one second away from jumping at her...but turned its head from her to glare determinedly at the foe before it. Running forward, it seemed set on not using Quick Attack, instead, using its tried and true Tackle. Thankfully, the attack hit, but the Fletchling was still up and moving.

Hearing a distant shout from where Jacklyn was still battling Dinah, Belle grimaced. She needed to get this over with before the other girl finished her fight and went looking for them. She might end up heading in the completely wrong direction. "Rattata, use Quick Attack." she repeated.

As the Rattata stubbornly used Tackle once again, getting Pecked for its troubles, Belle clenched her fists in frustration. She wasn't the sort to get angry really, but she felt that this sort of situation would try anybody's patience. Seeing the Fletchling rush forward in another Quick Attack, she knew that another Tackle wasn't a good idea now. Which meant it was time for a Quick Attack. Think, think, Belle. How can I make this stupid rat obey me? Almost as if the need had summoned it, an idea formed in her mind. "Rattata, use...Tackle." she commanded.

At that, the Rattata raced toward the Fletchling with equal speed, leaving nothing but a flash of purple where it once was. "Oh no." Belle's flat tone didn't match her words at all. "You're not listening to me when I said to use Tackle. Whatever shall I do." She smirked slightly when her Pokémon managed to strike first, knocking the other out in the process. I think I've found a way around this. True, it might not use the move I want, but at least I know it's guaranteed to not use a particular move this way. While this was more of a random chance than she preferred, she could work with it. Now I just have to hope it doesn't claw my face off whenever I release it.

 Thankfully, her Pokémon looked too tired out from the recent battle to do much more than stand over the bird's body triumphantly, panting for breath. When it finally moved away and back toward Belle, the girl smirked, her glee leaking into her expression. "Good job." The rat bristled, detecting the slightly mocking tone she used. "Now if only you actually listened, this would probably have been done a lot sooner." It probably wouldn't have been, and might even have taken longer, but she really needed to get this rat to obey her at some point.

Hissing, the Rattata jumped toward her...but fell short, crumpling to the ground in exhaustion. Smirk growing wider, the girl returned the Pokémon to her ball. While it being exhausted meant she had one less good Pokémon to use before it rested up, it also meant it couldn't attack her either. And with this fight, she had gained some insight into how to handle the Rattata. Still, why can't they all be like Moo? And seeing how Rus behaves, I'm even gladder I chose the grass type now. One unruly Pokémon is bad enough.

Realizing that she still had Moo out, the girl returned him as well. "So..." she turned to Ivan. "What now?" Part of her thought it'd be a good idea to head back before Jacklyn went looking for them, but she wasn't sure if the boy still had things he needed to do here, either.

[Skaia 579]

Welling with excitement as Rus had not only managed to pull off a successful dodge, but also managed to defeat the Tepig in a clash of embers, the girl shouted, "yeah! Way to go Rus, you show him!" Landing on its feet, the fire rabbit looked to see that the enemy Tepig was already charging. Having no time to dodge the attack at all, Jacklyn shouted to her Lepash, "come on Rus! Ember him again! Show him what you got!" Without even needing to hear it from the girl, Rus had already gone from his jump into a bracing position before letting out a burst of fire. With the Tepig coming straight towards Rus, it hit the flames dead on, but continued barreling through the pain of the fire attack. 

As the pig pokemon barreled into the Lepash, Rus was knocked back by the force. Struggling for a moment to get back onto his feet, Rus eventually fell and found himself unable to get out. Deflated at the sight of her defeated pokemon, Jacklyn pulled out her pokeball and recalled Rus into it. Frowning, the girl simply said, "good job." Putting the ball away, Jacklyn pouted and didn't make eye contact with Dinah, but just said, "well, it's your win." 

[LordCowCow 842]

"Of course I won, I've been training here for days, you had no chance." Dinah said, grinning ear to ear. "I guess you did alright to beat two of them though. But you're a thousand years too early to win a fight with me three on two."

The girl glanced to the side and frowned. "Maybe two on two you would've won." She seemed a bit bothered by this thought then shook her head. "Well, whatever, next time we battle make sure to have more Pokemon okay?"

She knelt down next to her Tepig, who was looking up at her proudly, and patted the Pokemon on the head before spraying it with some Potion. "I'm almost out of items, guess I'll have to head back to town soon. But first, you had a couple of friends with right? Do you think they'd want to have a battle? One on one?"

Once the other two made it back to where Jacklyn was they'd get the challenge. Dinah, with her Tepig by her feet, would point at them and ask, somewhat aggressively "So one of you want to have a battle with my Tepig? He's small but strong, I bet none of you have a Pokemon that can match him!"

Spoiler

Figure I would do this to give you a bit more to go on. If either Belle or Ivan wants to battle Dinah let me know. Of course first you'd have to return to Jacklyn so if there's anything else you wanna do you can do that.

 

[Doggo 218]

Things seemed like they were going pretty ordinarily, at least so far as a trio of pokemon trainers walking through a scorching desert could be ordinary. As seemed to be an emerging trend, Kanon provided more directly helpful information in the form of a proper estimate of their arrival time to the new city while Nomi offered what sounded to Milla like jokes. She couldn't exactly argue the sentiment of how long their walk felt or how hot it was on the feet. A break did seem in order as Kanon suggested it. But Milla almost reeled back, subconsciously grabbing her shirt, as what looked like Bug had emerged, biting int Kanon's arm. The girl had never seen a pokemon seriously injure a human and it took her some time to process the scene as it unfolded. Thankfully, a kind stranger, who soon introduced himself as Tavares, appeared and began offering aid to Kanon's arm. Truthfully, Milla wasn't sure she trusted Trapinches much anymore but this one did seem particularly remorseful.

"Here, let me help too. We need to make sure it's properly cleaned out." Milla said as she began functioning again. She had her container of water on hand and was at Kanon's side by this point, looking to wash the bite as best they could before applying the bandages. After washing, the heat of the day dried Kanon's arm pretty effectively, which cleared the way for the offered bandages to be applied. "Thank you Tavares, your help is greatly appreciated. I'm Milla, and this is Kanon and Nomi." she said introducing the group to the man. "What brings you out this way?" she asked, her natural curiosity taking over even in this situation.