[X] My Assistant

[Angels Fall Firs...]

Finn rose his eyebrows at Cesc's joke, not knowing whether to brush off the joke or to laugh at it. He decided the latter, letting a chuckle slip out dryly. Then he heard another loud roar, causing him to wince. "Whatever it is, it sounds like it's getting closer."

He took another minute to listen to the roar as it now began getting clearer. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the sound, which by now didn't sound like a roar at all, it sounded more like a loud howl. Finn looked in the direction of the sound as it neared them, beyond the Pokemon Center.

A large, shadowy figure was charging their way and Finn just stood there, squinting his eyes to see it clearer. The thunderous stomps that it made caused Finn's legs to get a little jittery as he tightened his grip on his Pokeball. "Wait a minute," Finn said as another sound was brought to life. It wasn't a roar or a howl, it was a loud moo!

"Get out of the way!" Someone shouted from behind the charging figure, waving their hands ferociously.

Finn listened and threw himself behind a bush as a raging bull trampled nearby. That's when he remembered Cesc was still there too. He looked back at his opponent, seeing if he had done the same.

This post has been edited by Angels Fall First: Apr 24 2011, 11:09 AM

[Kamaitachi]

Cesc wished he could've made some gallant stand, facing the charging beast like a matador. However, all he managed to do was let out a startled squeak of dismay. He found himself petrified with fear, rooted dangerously to the spot where he stood. It seemed that he was in danger of receiving the full brunt of the creature's linear charge.

However, Faithful Oberon sprang into action without any commands from his trainer. He dashed forward at an angle, slightly away from the offender, then leaped back in with his claws flashing. With a loud moo, the Tauros charged off to the side. Oberon had been successful in diverting the line of attack.

Finding himself galvanized by his pokemon's selfless reaction, Cesc raised himself to his full height, holding his head proudly in the air.

"Follow it up with Pursuit!" The Sneasel nodded, lancing after the beast with the excellent speed attributed to his species. He lashed out once more, knocking the Tauros further along its path.

"Finnley!" Cesc called out, not seeing his fellow trainer anywhere "Have you been trampled!?"

[Angels Fall Firs...]

"W-what!? No!" He shouted, popping out from behind the bush he had been hiding in. "I'm fine." He watched as Oberon had kept on the pursuit of the Tauros, not letting it get back. But once it turned you could see in it's eyes that it had just become more angry than it was before. "Watch out, it's coming back!"

Finn quickly swiped his pokeball back out and tossed it to the floor, calling out Rue, his third and final Pokemon. "Ember, let's help them out!" And right off the bat the little piglet began firing little balls of fire in the direction of the still charging Tauros. It stopped it, but caused it to stand on it's hind legs, mooing with intense anger, scaring Rue just a bit, causing him to weaken his ember attack.

Just then an out of breath trainer arrived next to Finn, panting like no other. "So-sorry. He. Got. Away. I couldn't. Get. Him back."

Finn gave him a look and said, "Take a breather first, I can't understand anything you're saying. We'll handle him for now alright?"

The boy shook his head agreeing to Finn's plan. He took a few breaths and watched as Rue kept on the offensive. It had stopped using Ember and was now running around the Tauros. The little pig finally stopped when the Tauros gave it a nasty little look, both frightening Rue and causing him to slow down.

"Cesc! Go!" Finnley shouted.

[Kamaitachi]

The Tauros seemed to be placed on the ropes by the little fire pokemon. Oberon had initiated the attacks, and Rue had followed up with the main portion of damage, and perhaps it was time to take the Tauros down.

"Oberon" Cesc raised a hand high in the air across his body before slashing it back down. "Use counter!" While the command had been delivered in a very stylized and dramatic way, the fact remained that Cesc's choice of attack was clearly the worst possible one.

Oberon looked confused at the choice, but loyally stepped into the Tauros' path, radiating a faint blue aura from his body. Lowering his head, the Tauros let fly with a fury attack, hitting the Sneasel repeatedly with his horn. Cesc had severely underestimated the bull's attack power, while horrendously overestimating Oberon's defensive ability. The dark pokemon flew threw the air from the final blow, landing in a crumpled heap on the ground in front of Cesc. The poor thing had just battled two of Finnley's pokemon before facing a Tauros, and it was obviously too much. Oberon looked up at Cesc forlornly, apparently upset at the failure. As Cesc's eyes met his pokemons, he couldn't help but wonder if the eyes were full of accusation or contrition.

Disheartened at the rookie mistake, Cesc recalled Oberon to the pokeball with a whispered apology. As he drew the pokeball for Valentine, he hesitated slightly, his confidence had vanished alongside the defeat of his pokemon. Clearly, he didn't want Valentine to suffer the same fate as his comrade, but there was no way to know for sure whether or not the Fire Chimp would return from the battle unscathed.

"Valentine...let's use Fake Out?" Cesc didn't usually lead in with the attack, even though he had been told time and time again to do so. He wasn't exactly sure what would happen, as he hadn't used it in combat yet. The Chimchar with the blue scarf appeared in the customary flash of light and calmly sizing up the situation. Tossing Cesc an over-the-shoulder nod, Valentine launched forward and clapped his hands in front of the Tauros' face, stunning the creature for a moment.

"All yours, Finn." Cesc flashed a nervous thumbs up over at his fellow trainer.

[Angels Fall Firs...]

"Mmhm!" Finn said, returning a confident nod towards Cesc. "Ember, use full power, Rue!"

His little piglet took a deep breath before finally shooting our a barrage of little flaming bullets, directly at the spooked Tauros. It mooed as he was struck with every fireball, causing it to trip over itself and falling over to the ground.

"Don't stop! Keep on firing!" Finn ordered. It wasn't for another few seconds before the trainer called off his Pokemon. "Stop, I think we've stopped it."

"Tory!" The boy from before shouted, rushing towards his bovine companion. He placed his hand on his Pokemon's chest and began rubbing him gently. "I'm sorry that this happened to you. It's all my fault." He took a few moments before facing the other two trainers who had took down his Tauros, smiling crookedly. "I... Thanks. Thank you for stopping him before he hurt anyone..."

"It wasn't a problem at all." Finn said with a grin. He was now crouched down next to Rue, giving his little fire pig a well deserved pat on the back.

[Kamaitachi]

Finnley and...Roo? finished the battle with aplomb. Cesc recalled Valentine to him, placing the pokeball back on his belt with a flourish. He looked down sadly at the other pokeball, realizing that it had mostly been his fault that Oberon had been hurt. On the other hand, Oberon was a very frail pokemon, and had faced a charging bull. Even still, he would have to take better care of his pokemon. Agility was also a defensive trait, as well as an offensive one. He'd have to work with Oberon on using his speed as a defense, rather than just using it to attack.

The boy, who evidently owned the Tauros, patted the flanks of his downed pokemon before addressing the two young men.

"You're damn right it's all your fault." Cesc crossed his arms, looking rather stern. This was perhaps an opportunity to cast blame off of himself and over on to this new boy, whom Cesc did not know and therefore had no problems gently berating. "And, I'll have you know, he did hurt someone. My pokemon was wounded because your very powerful cow." He sniffed a little, half feigning half actually feeling some hurt. After a moment, his expression softened as he knelt down next to the kid.

"So, why did your Tauros go charging off like that?"

[Angels Fall Firs...]

"We were... Uhm... We were training and he stopped listening to me. I sort of yelled at'em, then all of a sudden he bashed himself into a tree and a Beedrill attacked... Then that's when he got really mad and started running." The boy mumbled. "I... I'm a horrible trainer!"

Finn listened intently, biting his lip gently. It wasn't until the end of the boy's explanation when Finn flinched. The last thing he said hit Finn just a little extra hard. The boy said he was a horrible trainer for yelling at his Pokemon, and he felt really bad about it. Finn on the other hand, he just brushed it off, what he did to Bailey.

"Does that make me a bad trainer too then?" He said to himself. Finn took a deep breath and smiled, "No, it doesn't."

He then smiled at the boy, "Yelling at it doesn't make you a bad trainer. Everyone slips up, kid. Some more than others, but all you have to do is remember your goal, at least that's what I do. Then that's what makes it okay for me." He gave his little fire piglet another pat on the head before returning it to it's pokeball.

The young boy did the same. Bowing to the two trainers who had helped stop his Tarous. "T-thank you!" He stuttered again before running off.

Finn stood and walked on over towards Cesc with a grin. "It was a nice battle, even though we didn't get to finish. I'm pretty sure once we train our guys a bit more the battles will be even more interesting." He stuck out his hand and nodded. "Let's battle again sometime?"

This post has been edited by Angels Fall First: May 10 2011, 10:36 PM

[Kamaitachi]

Just like that, it was over and done. Crisis over. Just like that.

Cesc raised an eyebrow at Finn's speech to the Tauros' trainer. It did seem a bit like he was justifying his own yelling from earlier, or at the very least excusing it. In any case, he didn't want to label the teen a hypocrite, just for making a mistake. He was trying to own up to it, perhaps in his own way.

The new coordinator looked down at his pokeballs, wondering just what his goal was. He would have to challenge the contest hall here in Fidona eventually, but that would have to wait. He'd need a better array of dazzling moves, and at least a third pokemon. Until then, he had a lot of training to do. Hopefully, he'd do it without ever yelling at his pokemon. It seemed kind of harsh, but friends yelled at each other once in awhile too, so it really wasn't too bad, so long as apologies followed. After all, no one ever fought to end a relationship, but rather to strengthen them.

Now he felt a little didactic. Even if his audience was imaginary, it still felt a little preachy for him to discourse on it in his head in such a way.

"It was a nice battle, even though we didn't get to finish. I'm pretty sure once we train our guys a bit more, the battles will be even more interesting." Funny, Cesc wanted his battles interesting AND awesome looking. "Let's battle again sometime?"

"Absolutely." Cesc grinned, taking Finn's hand in a hearty handshake. "I bet you'll win next time, too. Your pokemon looked like they got stronger just over the course of the battle with me, and the battle with Tauros."

That was something of a lie. Cesc was pretty sure he'd win next time too. In the meantime, the pressing matter of healing Oberon was on his mind.

"We should heal up our friends." He indicated the pokeballs "In case more pokemon come charging through."

[Angels Fall Firs...]

"I don't see why not." Finn nodded in agreement. He led the two away towards the Pokemon Center which by now was lively as ever. Once inside he handed his Pokemon over to the Nurse Joy, who by now had been wearing her new outfit Cesc had brought, trying it out and working out its' kinks. The trainer let a chuckle slip as he turned away and watched the trainers in the room.

They were going to be his competition. Every single one of them in some way or another were going to be pitted up against Finn, and that idea made him believe. It made him believe that he wasn't going to slip up again with what he did to Bailey. It made him believe in himself, that he was going to train his Pokemon so they could win battles solely on their skill and not on luck.

Finn was ready to take the right step in fulfilling his personal legend. "But first," he said to himself, reaching into his pocket, feeling his ticket, "I have to get off this damn island, before I go crazy." The trainer let a chuckle slip and turned back, facing Cesc and the nurse who was now returning his Pokemon.

"Thanks."

Fin~

This post has been edited by Angels Fall First: May 11 2011, 04:08 PM