[X] My Assistant

[Red Kitten]

They want to buy Chris’s Houndoor? You’ve got to be kidding me. DC craned her neck around to stare at the couple, her lip curled up in an expression of disgust. How strange. I’ve only ever heard of people buying Pokémon from breeders, not from strangers they happen to stumble across. These two are definitely different, and not in a good way.

Their reaction to Chris refusing to sell was even weirder. Perhaps there was really no harm in asking, although the request was odd, but becoming angry when someone said no? It was as if they thought it was their given right to buy anything, anytime, anywhere, from anyone. Alexandra was practically whimpering, staring up at her boyfriend with fluttering lashes and a quivering lip. DC snorted in contempt. If there was anything she couldn’t stand, it was those needy types of girls who used their looks to spur people, mainly males, into action.

“Hey!” Brett snarled at Chris, living proof of Alexandra’s use of her appearance to get her way. “You haven’t even listened to what she could offer for it.”

“I’m pretty sure that means he’s dead set against selling,” DC responded, “which in turn means you should back the hell off.” She stood up to fully challenge the couple.

Somehow Alexandra managed to speak with her pouting lips. She was probably very well practiced in doing so. “Oh, you be quiet! Simply because we’re a cuter couple than you two doesn’t mean you should keep me from getting what I want! I know you’re jealous of me, because I’m prettier than you and have the world’s best boyfriend, it’s understandable, but control yourself!” She was feigning an act of concern and preference for non-violence, but there was a malicious glint in her eyes that DC could see from across the pond. “And besides, I don’t really think you want to have a conflict with us. My boyfriend can beat up your boyfriend.”

DC was somewhat taken aback by Alexandra’s assumptions about her and Chris, but she supposed it was not a ridiculous concept. When one comes across two young adults alone together, chances are hormones are influencing them. Even if they are not as public about it as Brett and Alexandra.

“Honey, please.” DC rolled her eyes. “Just because you’re completely and utterly independent on having a relationship, doesn’t mean everyone is. And besides,” she said with a wry grin, “my Pokémon can beat up your Pokémon.” She refrained from saying that she herself could beat up Alexandra and her boyfriend single-handedly, although the desire to do so struck her.

“Oh, so we’re bringing Pokémon into this now! Fine! We challenge you to a double battle!”

Of course, DC thought with contempt. They can’t even battle by themselves. DC hoped Chris wouldn’t be upset that she’d gotten him into a battle, but she figured these two wouldn’t be too hard to beat. There was no way they got a lot of Pokémon training done, not with their inability to keep their hands off each other. But the question was, who to use? There was of course Devil, if she wanted to fully trounce these trainers, but perhaps Magic could use the extra practice. DC’s hand closed around his Pokéball thoughtfully. She’d wait for the couple to meet them on this side of the water before she took action. If they were assuming she’d come to them, they were dead wrong. They were the ones with the problem, they could make the effort.

[Delete This User...]

This battle sequence is a combined effort between the two of us put together through an exchange of PMs and Instant Messages, please take this into account during the grading process, thank-you.

Wait, when was it decided that Chris and DC were a couple? Chris didn’t recall he or DC stating that the two were an item, and he sure as hell didn’t remember even thinking about it. Still, he guessed it may well have been not too far of an assumption considering the fact the two of them had been previously alone, bar their Pokémon of course, in a place such as this. Still, it was quite the assumption, something Chris initially felt like getting across by stating that “Not everyone falls head over heels just for a pretty face.”, but soon after thought it a better idea to simply keep his trap shut rather than things any worse than they already were, therefore he never spoke a word.

By the time the couple had made their way across to DC and Chris’ side of the pond to begin their Pokémon battle, the darker haired male had managed to dry off a fair amount due to the combined heat of the natural sunlight, not to mention the additional heat energy being radiated from the nearby fire. Unfortunately, he hadn’t really had much chance to change back into his clothes, so he’d simply have to do battle wearing only his swim shorts, not that his current clothing was one of the main topics floating around his mind of course. In all honesty, all he had been wondering while the two rather, ‘joyfully’, made their way around the pond was which Pokémon to use.

Well, given the way Heruga was still growling at the flamboyant couple, her nose no longer erupting with flames but still emitting trails of smoke, it was perfectly clear that she would be the one to battle their Pokémon, though it wasn’t like Chris had much choice to begin with. He wasn’t exactly going to risk Fenrir given his current state, and Astrala was out of the question simply due to the fact that she wasn’t much stronger than a new born.

“I’ll be using Heruga to battle, if you hadn’t of guessed already.” Chris murmured to DC, keeping his voice down to a level which would probably only just be audible to her. He had previously made his way over too her as Brett and Alexandra had made their way over to this side of the body of water, in case the female had planned on sharing any quick battle tactics. “Just so you know, as little as it probably means, I won’t be holding back against these two.”

Yes, that probably didn’t mean much coming from Chris in terms of his own Pokémon’s strength, it was more to re-iterate the fact that he most certainly wasn’t in the mood for losing to these two, who had once again found themselves lost in their own little world of embraces and tongue bashing, much to Chris’ anguish.

“If you two really want to battle, then get on with it.” The long haired male all but demanded, his arms now folded as he began to grow rather impatient with the pair’s little antics. “But hey, if you just want to stand there getting it off with one another, then that’s fine, just don’t expect us to be here when you finish.”

"If you're so eager to lose, then let's go!" Brett growled, and released a Gligar. Alexandra sent out a Bellsprout. Neither Pokémon looked to be especially powerful, at least from DC's perspective. The Bellsprout should be especially easy for Heruga to eliminate. But then again, these two could have a few tricks up their sleeves. It was possible that Alexandra had various items to give her an advantage in battle, given her obvious wealth.

DC called Magic out of his Pokeball, and the Shroomish looked rather disgruntled to be participating in a battle, as usual. Alexandra giggled with malice. "Now that is probably the ugliest Pokémon I've ever seen! You clearly have poor taste!"

DC ignored the comment, and Magic was not at all upset that some human had just insulted his appearance. In fact, he could not have cared less.

Having now moved to a position between her trainer and her opposition, though much nearer Chris, Heruga simply glared at the other Pokémon as she waited for the battle to commence, which seemingly wouldn’t take too long at all.

“Now, to show them the power of a love as beautiful and passionate as ours! Xavier, use Vine Whip on that Houndour!”

Commanding a direct attack straight off the bat seemed a bit of an unorthodox way to go about starting a battle against a Pokémon with a type advantage, yet that’s what Alexandra dictated. Was she not thinking too clearly? Or was this her way of testing Heruga’s strength?

“Heruga, wall then set up!”

This time opening her mouth to attack with a greater, much more intentional force, Heruga let loose with a somewhat wide spray of small fireballs, an Ember attack, to block the oncoming green vines. However, while Chris had only ordered the attack to be used as a deterrent for the whip-like vines heading straight for Heruga, it was pretty clear that the Houndour had put much more energy into her attack than what was needed. Clearly, she was trying to overpower the Bellsprout, purely out of spite towards it’s trainer.

Regardless, the fire-based attack did put a stop to the oncoming vines, singeing them enough to cause the Bellsprout to cry out in pain before swiftly retracting them, dodging the follow-through of small flames from Heruga’s attack.

“Oh for the love of God Xavier, I thought you were meant to be strong? How dare you embarrass me like this in front of Brett in such a manner! Just beat those flames away with your vines next time!”

These words that Alexandra spoke obviously didn’t go down too well with either Chris or Heruga (the human’s glare towards the opposing item growing more intent while Heruga’s previous growl returned), nor did they with the Bellsprout for that matter. The petite Grass-type couldn’t look more ashamed of itself if it tried. It’s head was hung low, almost suggesting it was physically ill, while the human stood behind him simply glared trough eyes that seemed to almost change their identity whenever they looked towards her ‘all and everything’.

Fortunately, the Dark-type and their trainer managed to keep their focus trained on the battle at hand for the time being. As she had been instructed, Heruga followed up her barrage of flames with a luring gaze towards both the opposing Pokémon, the closest thing she could do to a hand gesture which would essentially say ‘bring it’.

DC saw no reason to put off using her favorite of all Magic's attacks. "Magic, use stun spore!" The Shroomish obliged. It was an attack he didn't really mind, because it did not involve physical contact with his foe, and in turn could prevent his foe from making physical contact with him. Best of both worlds.

The orange powder puffed out of Magic's head in the direction of the two opposing Pokémon. The Gligar was quick to respond, and kicked up a puff of dirt. The sand-attack pushed the orange cloud back towards Magic, who only narrowly evaded his own spores.

Damn, DC thought. That Gligar has a sharp wit. It may be safe for me to say I'm not too worried about the skill of these trainers, but I'd better not underestimate this Gligar...

"Attaboy, Killer! Show them who's boss!" Brett jeered.

Killer? What an imaginative name. DC's thoughts were almost as sarcastic as her facial expression. Still, she had to admit she had some respect for this Gligar. His trainer was obviously an idiot, so it was likely the Gligar had learned to fight for himself during his time spent with Brett.

Spotting the Sand Attack out of the corner of his eye, Chris made a mental note not to order Heruga to use her Smog attack until that Gligar was out of commission. The last thing he needed was Heruga’s own attacks being used against her or Magic, never mind an attack which the Shroomish was weak to.

That being said, using the same attack again didn’t exactly seem like the greatest of ideas. If Chris consistently ordered an Ember attack from Heruga, Alexandra and Brett may click onto the fact that the Houndoor didn’t exactly have the most versatile of move pools, and could end up finding a way to counter said attack to prevent Heruga from dealing any damage at all.

Well, there was more than one way to inflict damage on an opponent.

“Heruga, keep your guard up.”

The trail of smoke from Heruga’s nostrils following Chris’ command made it abundantly clear that she was not too happy with the command that she had been given. When Chris said those words, he always meant more along the lines of ‘just dodge for a while’, not the fighting style Heruga was wanting to use whatsoever at the moment. She wanted to kick the asses of these two trainer’s, kick them hard yet her trainer was ordering her to simply hang back. Well, if she was going to hang back, she was at least going to make her intents known. Maintaining a low growl, the canine simply glared at the Bellsprout as it awaited it’s next move.

“Xavier, whip that puppy into shape please. Try not to damage it too much though; I would prefer it to still be in good health when I obtain it.”

Cleary under delusions grandeur, the demanding young lady gave her orders, the Bellsprout once again extending a pair of vines towards Heruga in a whip-like manner, the Dark-Fire type dodging them seemingly without much hassle at all, setting into place what would soon appear to become a routine, leaving Chris to silently debate his tactics while Alexandra seemed to do no more than demand that Xavier neutralise Heruga with his next attempt of hitting his agile target, though no single blow ever seemed to be closer to landing than the previous.

Even though my Pokémon most definitely aren’t exactly the strongest, I do know that they have better stamina than most of the others I’ve ever faced, even Astrala, so wearing down this Bellsprout like this seems like it could work. I’ve just gotta make sure I don’t leave it too long before I order an attack. As much as she may well have a good level of fitness, Heruga can’t keep dodging like this forever.

Brett's Gligar was so far too agile for Magic to hit it with stun spore. "Killer, use quick attack!" Brett barked, and the Gligar smashed into Magic with rapid speed. The Shroomish didn't have a chance at dodging this foe, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to hit. Something had to be done to level the playing field before it was feasible for Magic to start dealing some damage.

"Magic, I want you to try Plan Phi-Alpha!" DC cried out. She'd recently done some training with Magic during downtime, and had placed emphasis on teaching him code names for various strategies. The code names worked well for DC's other Pokemon, Devil in particular, because hearing codes rather than official attack names tended to confuse and intimidate opponents. DC could only hope that Magic remembered his codes. The Shroomish had shown a discouraging lack of interest in memorizing the code names during training...

"Shroom?" Magic faltered, and was suddenly hit with another one of Killer's quick attacks. His grumpy expression was mixed with confusion.

"You've got it partway right," DC told him, trying to be patient. "You're just missing the next step. Come on, remember Phi-Alpha?" DC hoped that Magic would not take too much damage before he recalled the meaning of Phi-Alpha. She might have to switch him out at this rate. At that point, to hell with it, she thought. I'll send out Devil even if he'd be a complete juggernaut in this battle. But perhaps Magic would pull through.

As Killer neared him again, Magic was again hit with a quick attack, but this time he took action. Using the Gligar's brief closeness as an advantage and hit Killer with a slim, red beam of light that seemed to sap some energy out of him. As the Gligar's energy waned, Magic seemed to perk up slightly.

"OK, you've got the Phi down, but you're forgetting Alpha." The absorb attack was admittedly an improvement. At least Magic had landed a hit.

Suddenly it dawned on Magic, and his expression was still disgruntled, but possessed an element of confidence now. After Killer hit Magic with another quick attack, Magic wasted no time in shooting three tiny seeds out of the top of his head. They latched on to the Gligar's body and small vines dug into his skin. Both Magic and DC watched in approval as the vines leeched a bit of energy from Killer and transferred it to Magic. The Gligar scratched at the seeds frantically, but the more he scratched, the deeper they dug in. This was an ideal opportunity to strike at the distracted foe, but Magic's mind was simply not wired to do so. By the time DC prompted him to tackle Killer, the Gligar had turned his back on Magic and lunged towards Heruga in an attempt to quick attack her.

Needless to say, the fact that Heruga was distracted with the dodging of Xavier’s vines didn’t particularly help with her preparation for avoiding Killer’s attack. Yes, Chris’s cry of “Heruga, from your left!” did help, but the fact that the Houndoor was pre-occupied and the Gligar was using an attack such as Quick Attack soon overcame that potential advantage, resulting in Heruga being hit by attack which she had nowhere near enough time to prepare for.

After a single roll across the floor from the momentum of the collision, Heruga soon found herself straight back at her feet, now with even more reason to kick these opposing Pokémon into the next century, and then some. Fortunately however, as much as she felt she had justifiable reasons for simply attempting to slaughter these two Pokémon mindlessly, she was held back from her intended course of action by her own trainer, who seemed to have already discovered what thought process was passing through her mind.

“Heruga, focus. That Gligar’s too flammable right now.”

The unusually firm words from her trainer made the Houndoor realise that her natural reaction to anger, a flame based attack, would most probably end up assisting her foe than assisting him. Still, she needed to take her anger out on something. Well, maybe not so much needed, but her wanting to do something was pretty damn close to a necessity.

Without an order, the female Canine turned back to her initial opponent, who seemed to have been taking a brief moment of respite after his barrage of vine-based direct attacks, and unleashed yet another shower of flames, this one possessing a similar intent to her initial ‘walling’ attempt, though the sheer force behind this attack made it very clear that’s just what it was, an attack.

Like many a Bellsprout, Xavier didn’t take too kindly to this Ember attack too well, not too well at all in fact. Seemingly, all it took was this pepper of flames, and this Grass type was out of the fray, completely? Well, it was lying on the ground, and his trainer was berating it. What else were Chris and Heruga to believe?

“Xavier! Get up! You are NOT going to embarrass me like this infront of my darling Brett! I swear, if you don’t get up I’m feeding you to papa’s Arcanines!”

It seemed the Bellsprout was well and truly out of the count, Even after this level of verbal harassment, not a single responsive movement was being made from the Grass-Poison type. Was it really that fragile, or was this some kind of ‘play-dead’ tactic? Either way, Chris and Heruga couldn’t afford to leave their focus aimed at the Bellsprout for too long, that Gligar was still active after all. Leaving their guard down for just a moment could prove to be a tragic mistake. As such, the pair’s eyes diverted to the flying Scorpion-like Pokémon.

"Magic, go for plan Alpha!" The Shroomish appeared sort of pumped up at this point, probably because he was eager to have the battle done and over with. He charged at the Gligar and tackled it with considerable force, for a Shroomish anyway. However there was still some work to be done before Killer was eliminated. Now that the Gligar was outnumbered, it shouldn't be too difficult.

More angry than hurt, Killer darted toward Magic and landed another quick attack. Magic was knocked back and slightly stunned, but at that moment the leech seeds he'd planted sucked a bit more energy out of the Gligar.

"Magic, stick to plan Pi now!" Magic gave a brief nod in response, and DC was pleasantly surprised to see that he remembered the code and sapped more energy from Killer with his absorb attack. The bits of energy Magic had absorbed throughout the battle had succeeded in keeping his health from dropping too low. The leech seeds continued to lower the Gligar's health periodically, and the creature was looking a bit run down. The pair attacked each other in rapid succession, Killer with quick attacks and Magic with absorb. Finally the Shroomish absorbed more energy than his foe had to give, and the Gligar trembled and then passed out in a crumpled heap in the dirt.

So, that’s it? The end?

A little in disbelief, Chris surveyed the two incapacitated Pokémon as they lay on the floor, ensuring they were just that, similar to how he had examined Xavier earlier, though the rather unimpressed huff of smoke from Heruga told him all he needed to know. It had almost become trademark that when she had won a battle the Houndoor would mark her victory with such an act; regardless of how close the battle was in reality.

“Well, looks like that’s it then.” Chris stated rather matter-of-factly, turning his focus down to Heruga for a brief moment as he scanned for any glaringly obvious injuries from the hit she took from Killer, shifting his attention back up to the opposing pair now with his arms folded as he awaited some sort of response from them.

This post has been edited by Arcyena: Apr 28 2011, 10:38 AM

[Red Kitten]

Alexandra’s immediate reaction was to turn to her boyfriend, her protruded lower lip trembling. Then she burst into massive tears that ran down her cheeks like a flood, dragging pigments of her mascara with them.

“Brett!” she wailed, clinging to his arm with all the charm of a parasite. “How could we lose? How could my Pokémon be so… so… incompetent?”

“There, there, it’s alright,” Brett said in a soothing voice, enveloping his blubbering female companion in a hug. “It’s alright, they just cheated, that’s all.” His face twisted into a gruesome expression as he looked up at Chris and DC. “And I’m going to take care of this.”

The teenage male suddenly took a menacing step towards Chris, his eyes ablaze. He pushed up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal a bicep that while not incredibly impressive, was nothing to sneeze at either.

DC honestly had no idea whether Chris was a decent fighter or not, but she decided against finding out. Devil was on the same page apparently. Before DC could even call on him, the Charmeleon darted in front of DC and Chris, baring his fangs. A guttural sound escaped from his throat.

“He’s never attacked a person before,” DC informed Brett, her hands planted on her hips in a challenging stance. “But there’s a first time for everything. Please don’t make this moment a first time. I think you’d regret it.”

Alexandra was obviously horrified at the prospect of her boyfriend getting hurt. Or perhaps she was more worried about his handsome face being marred by a Pokémon’s attack. He’d hardly look as good at her side if he was disfigured in some way. “Brett, forget it! Let’s just leave! Please!”

Brett too had faltered. He clearly had not been prepared for DC to bring a stronger Pokémon into the picture. Even if his Gligar was conscious, the chances of it defeating Devil were slim. He himself was certainly not about to throw a punch at Chris with this creature standing in the way. Reluctantly he backed off and wrapped his arms around Alexandra, leading her away as quickly as their legs could carry them.

DC watched as their figures faded into the distance, looking more like one misshapen person than two as they went farther and farther away. She turned to Chris with a chuckle that was more exasperated than amused. “Well it’s good to have them out of our hair, that’s for certain. Great job, Magic, I’m glad to see our training has been paying off.” She knelt down to pat the Shroomish affectionately before recalling him into his Pokéball. “And you too Heruga, well done.” She extended her hand for the Houndoor to sniff. Heruga’s spunky attitude had definitely earned DC’s respect.

[Delete This User...]

Needless to say, Chris wasn’t all that surprised with Alexandra’s reaction to the loss of the battle, though that didn’t mean he was any less disgusted by it. Despite trying not to make his opinion on the female’s pathetic, quivering lip, the young man couldn’t help but turn away and focus on anything but her. It wasn’t just the blubbering, vulnerable mess which the female made herself out to be which was irritating Chris however, oh no, not by a longshot, in all honesty, it was probably the way in which she seemed to be shifting the blame for the battle’s result pretty much entirely on her Pokémon, in fact, there wasn’t even a pretty much about it.

Trainers like this had always got on Chris’ bad side whenever they made their demeanours clear, the other ‘personality quirks’ which Alexandra possessed only serving to strengthen Chris’ hatred towards the quite obviously spoilt female. Really, how people developed such selfish, demanding personalities he had no idea. Even if Alexandra was used to getting her way a lot of the time, if not all of the time, she must realise that’s not always possible? Given by her reaction, evidently not.

Then, of course, after she had played ‘damsel in distress’ card, came the ever predictable ‘heroically chivalrous’ retort by her lover, not before he had proven the meat-headedness Chris had suspected the moderately built male to be in possession of. He and DC had beaten the quite literally attached by the hip couple because they had cheated? Yeah, that logic made perfect sense, it was obviously possible to cheat in a straight up Pokémon battle...

Anyway, whether his logic was sound or not, the fact remained that Brett had stated that he would ‘take care of this’, a few words which had managed to draw Chris’ attention to see just what he had expected, as well as admittedly partially feared, ‘Mr Muscle’ approaching him while attempting to use his muscles to attempt the longer haired male.

As one may well have guessed, Heruga didn’t really take to Brett’s actions too kindly, and once again began her growling while snorting smoke routine. Before the Canine could take what she would call ‘real action’ however (something along the lines of setting the opposing male’s clothes alight), a flame tipped tail was soon positioned in front of her body, the dark red Salamander-Pokémon who bore the limb also performing a similar act to her, though he had substituted bearing his teeth for the smoke-conveyed warning.

Very much as Chris had imagined, DC and her Pokémon were not really in the best of moods with Brett or Alexandra, hence why DC gave the male all but a threat when he began to approach Chris in such an aggressive manner. Fortunately, before things got messy, which Chris had next to no doubt they would have done otherwise, Alexandra possessed enough intelligence, or was otherwise persuaded into coercing Brett into simply leaving with her without engaging any further in this confrontation, the two leaving silently after the pampered princess had made her request, much to the relief of the remaining trainers and their Pokémon, a fact which DC soon voiced.

“’Good’ is a massive understatement, I’m not sure how much longer I could have put up with them without losing it, particularly that girl...” Chris stated with a sigh, scratching the back of his head with a hand that vanished under his now nearly bone-dry hair, which seemed to have retained the perfectly straight qualities it had obtained after getting wet. Almost as if just to emphasise her trainer’s point, Heruga had opted to sigh almost in sync with Chris, her notably lower, more aggressive exhale causing him to divert his attention towards her figure again, still feeling a little concerned after the hit she took in the previous battle.

“Anyway, they’re gone now. Thanks for putting up with dodging for that long Heruga, you alright after taking that Quick attack?” He questioned, an inkling of his concern being portrayed in the tone of his voice as he continued to scan the left side of the Canine’s rib-cage, earning him a smirk from the Pokémon before she turned to investigate the grasper which DC had presented her, proceeding to catching it’s scent before nudging the young female’s hand in a semi-affectionate manner, looking her square in the eyes as her tail gently swayed. Heruga certainly wasn’t shy about being petted every now and again, as these actions suggested.

“I guess I’ll take that as a yes, thanks for the help either way.” Unable to supress the mild chuckle building, Chris simply let it come out as he made his comment about Heruga’s silent reply, who gently nodded in acknowledgment at the additional thanks she was given. She wasn’t all who Chris had to thank though.

“Thank you as well Devil, you did help to prevent things getting completely out of control.” Giving the Charmeleon a nod while ensuring he made contact with the Pokémon, Chris then turned to face the only other human-being in the immediate, a thought coming across his mind that what he was about to say may well actually end up being something he could end up saying on a semi-frequent basis.

“Thanks for the help, again. If you weren’t here and those two had showed up, I don’t even want to think about what could have happened to Heruga, or me for that matter...”

After shaking his head and looking away in what could only be described as sheer embarrassment for a second or two, Chris soon found himself quite amused at the prospect of explaining he had been saved from a Sharpedo and a ‘bully’ to his father, not just by anyone, but by a girl.

Yes, that thought did indeed wreak of sexism, not something Chris condoned by any means, but in situations like this, his father did get a little, well, ‘old fashioned’. He was very much of the opinion that should any situation arrive, the male should be the one to protect the female, not the other way around, something Chris had to admit he agreed with, to an extent.

“Anyway, I doubt we’re to have much luck if we’re going to give fishing another go here. The racket that battle must have driven anything heading back to this place away for quite a while...” The male stated as he snapped himself out of his trail of thought and more or less completely changed the subject, gazing back over the pond as he folded his arms, the fact that he only had his swim shorts on at the moment being a thought that had managed to slip his mind completely.

This post has been edited by Arcyena: Jun 12 2011, 05:09 PM