(Joint Post! I am blue and Nideous is green.)
Bri was a little shocked when the Flaffy came out. He was so... Adorable! He looked at Nova and frowned when he saw the feral expression on the dog's face.
"Nova!" Bri said, forcing calmness into his voice. Nova took his eyes off Triac and looked up at him a moment. Bri shook his head at the pup before turning back to Ciel and Triac.
"Hi Triac! I'm Bri and this is Nova! Nova, let's get things started with... Um..." Bri said. He had forgotten what moves Nova knew. After all, Nova had leveled up recently and gained some new ones. Bri reched around and pulled out his pokedex, whincing at the sound of the crutch falling out from under his arm. He turned it on and scrolled to the page that had Nova's info on it. He'd never seen that move before...
"Nova, Flame Wheel!" Bri said uncertainly. Nova barked and snarled at Triac.
"Well, time's up Chew Toy," Nova said with a menacing grin, his Intimidate ability coming into play. Flames leapt from his mouth and he ran towards Triac, leaping up and curling into a weird looking wheel of fire that shot towards Triac like a rocket.
Triac didn't even flinch from Intimidate. "What a impolite child you are," he scolded Nova mildly. "At least your trainer has some manners." As Nova crashed into him, Triac winced and his left paw glowed. He slammed it down in a Rock Smash. Truthfully, he had wanted to learn Brick Break but Ciel had been being careful. Triac's whole body was filled with electricity, his wool sparking as it was hit by the Flame Wheel.
"Dude..." Rama muttered. "What is with this guy and cute Pokemon?"
Ellie shrugged. "We're cute and we're awesome." Rama couldn'tdisagree. He loved when his ego got stroked.
Nova yelped as the paw hit him in the flank and he leapt away, growling furiously. This bloody chew toy was going down! Aparently Bri agreed with him on that point.
"Nova... Use... Um... Bite!" Bri said, knowing this move well. From what he knew about it, which he had learned yesterday, it had a chance to make the opponent flinch. If it hit, maybe it would do that, and give Nova a chance to follow up with another attack! Nova rushed forward, his fangs glowing with dark power, and tried to wrap his fangs around Triac's head.
Triac let out a soft cry of pain, wincing slightly and freezing for a second in a flinch. Ciel waited. He was curious to know what attack Bri would follow up with in an attack. He didn't worry about damage too much, at least until Bri figured out what Teric's weaknesses were. Of course, he knew how to fix them too. Skye examined Triac for a moment. It seemed good against these physical attacks like Flame Wheel and Bite. Even if they did damage, they weren't seeming to do much. But he knew Bri would eventually figure this out, especially when Triac decided to beat up the poor arrogant pooch with his tail.
Bri thoughtfully considered his options. Quickly, as he didn't have a whole lot of time to breath, but thoughtfully. Bite was a pretty good dark attack. Flame Wheel and Ember were his two weapons of choice, being fire attacks. Nova being the fire type he was, it made sense that he'd be better with a fire attack, right? Odor sleuth would not help unless Triac raised his evasion or made clones or something. Roar would do nothing, as this was a one on one battle. And he still had no idea what Leer did. Well, might as well find out.
"Nova... Use leer and then use Flame Wheel again," Bri said, a little more confidently. He chose Flame Wheel over Ember because the pokedex said it was stronger. He didn't really get what the rest of the words and stuff meant, but higher numbers had to be better, right? Nova stopped growling and glared harshly at Triac, at the same time letting out a very scary snarl. Heck, it scared Bri a little bit, but not as bad as Roar had. He had to get rid of that move pronto! Nova then went flying, all covered in flame and spinning, toward Triac, right as he seemed to snap out of the flinching.
Triac sighed now, free of the flinch. The leer was discomforting but... he couldn't make this that easy could he? He carefully timed it and concentrated. Then he released a Thunderbolt toward the ground, making a bright light. When that Growlithe was in the flame, it likely had trouble discerning direction, like with Rollout. The best, and well, only option was to blind him for an instant and then...
"Iron Tail," Ciel whispered as Flaffy made his way away from the projected path, tail using a Steel power. He swung it to the right, aiming for the direction Nova had been flying in. "Be careful Bri," Ciel commented lightly. "Higher strength doesn't always mean it's the best move."
Nova was hit so hard by the Iron Tail it dazed him for a moment. He shook his head and leapt away, growling again, and limping a tad bit from where the tail hit his shoulder.
"Gah, that hurt... Come on Chew Toy, I just want to play a little... Heheheh, have you ever seen how badly a puppy shreds his toys?" Nova said in a low growl. Bri was freaked out by his own pokemon! What if he turned and decided to attack him? Battling with Nova had been a bad idea. Maybe he should have used Drizzle or Leena instead...
"Err... Um... Nova, please cut it out... I... Use Ember!" Bri said. Nova simply looked at him before blasting a torrent of flaming red orbs at the Flaffy opposite him.
Teric raised an eyebrow. "A teething puppy yes," Teric drawled. "Are they in pain from biting wool? You should get that looked at."
"Light Screen," Ciel mumbled. Fluffy created a golden box around him, weakening the Ember as it passed through. It vanished.
"That was a mean trap," Ellie told Skye, who shrugged.
Ciel didn't reply, merely commanded. "Thunderbolt." Flaffy's body released blue electricity all over the area.
"Wait, what happened to my attack?" Bri asked. He was scared. What the heck had happened? How had the Ember disappeared into thin air like that? Was there really a move that would stop an attack like that? That was nuts! It made no sense! Nova reacted angrily by charging through the Thunderbolt with Flame Wheel, heading right through, not caring that he was getting blasted by the powerful electric attack.
"Light Screen," Ciel stated dully. In battle, heknew full well he changed. "A non-damaging move that halves the strength of special attacks temporarily, which Teric isn't good with. Physical attacks like Flame Wheel are a safer bet but Teric is best at handling them, which is the opposite of Kinko. The only reason it faded was because of the weakness of the attack."
Teric seemed amused by the rage Nova was showing. He paused, thinking of his move. He nodded silently and glanced at Ciel a moment. Smiling he let the Flame Wheel strike again as the electricity faded and swung his tail to smack Nova with the move Return.
Bri nodded, thinking hard. He wondered how long it lasted. Not that it mattered much. Nova couldn't take much more. That Return smacked him hard on the head and he fell to the ground. Abruptly, he was back on his feet. He growled angrily, and with pain. But he was so stubborn. He began circling around Triac again. Bri thought quickly. That move had to have faded by now! Right?
"Ember again," Bri said quietly. Nova stopped growling and blasted even more flaming orbs at Triac. He put as much power into this one as he could. He was getting tired of this chew toy back talking him. He was going to show him who was boss!
Triac let out an unmanly squeal. That had gotten his wool! He was on fire! Even though the attack had still been weakened, it had gotten his wool! He squealed and rolled around,desperately trying to put out the fire. He caught himself on all-fours and charged in a Tackle attack, barreling into Nova. Though he couldn't see. Ellie winced. That hadn't burned the ship had it?
Nova smirked smugly and leapt, but he was too slow. Triac rammed into him hard. He yelped and fell to the ground. Brian again thought mayne Nova had not been the best choice. But this time it was because there was a black scorch mark on the deck of the ship. Bri turned back to the battle and saw Nova stubbornly struggling to get up, yapping furiously.
"Don't ask! I'll keep fighting! I'm never going to lose!" Nova snarled before Bri could even ask. Bri shrugged.
"Um... Just don't over do it. Use Bite again," Bri said. He was still wondering what Leer had done. Maybe it didn't so anything. Still, he had to hope he could somehow pull out a win. But Nova was running on fumes now. He was barely able to stand. Slowly at first, Nova began to run at Triac, his fangs glowing with dark power.
Triac shook himself, glaring now at Nova. Ciel smiled quietly. Bri probably couldn't tell but this was his victory. Triac was ticked off now. But... this wasn't over. Not just yet. "Rock Smash." Flaffy began to flash the crystal on his tail, the light glowing like a beacon. Then he swung the blinding gem at Nova's teeth.
Nova skidded to a stop and ducked his head, right in time to have Triac smack him upside the head with his tail. Nova took a few dizzy steps backwards. He shook his head, and took a few more steps back, tripping over his feet and falling down. He struggled to get up, but just couldn't.
"Gah..." Nova said before closing his eyes. Bri looked at the ground. He had done terribly. He just wasn't suited to battling. Nova was his strongest pokemon, but the two of them couldn't seem to synch up like the everyone else seemed to be able to. He couldn't really battle well with any of his pokemon. Not even Thyme. He shook his head.
"Err... Good battle," Bri said, forcing a smile to his face.
"You did better than you think," Ciel stated without preamble. He was not going to let Bri sink himself into a depression. It wouldn't help him at all. " Once you saw openings you took advantage of them. Your main problem is your lack of understanding. For anything to do with Pokemon, you need to be able to understand them. That doesn't just mean knowing what they are saying. That means knowing what they're feeling, their goals and beliefs, knowing them. It's the reason trainers are limited to carrying six Pokemon at a time. More than that would make it difficult to bond with your Pokemon."
"Yuh-hou almost wuh-won," Skye stated softly, grabbing Ellie to prevent her from running off.
"But Ciel is right," Jolt told Bri gently. "You may know what we say but do you know your Pokemon? Friendship takes more than talking. That will help you get better at anything you do, as long as you work with Pokemon."
"Ih-hif eh-eh-eh-anyone cah-han muh-make bonds with theh-them, it's you," Skye told him quietly. "Ah-hand I'd stuh-start wih-with Bouncy."
