((One epic joint post of epicness courtesy of Selena and Yellow?? Why, yes! Here it comes! ^_^))
Valorie's Post
Selene's Post
Valorie looked over at the twins. She observed the whole scarf wrapped around their face deal and considered trying something similar. Without her hat her face was pretty cold. Yet, it was her ears that were bothering her the most, and there wasn't a whole lot she could do about that without becoming some sort of fashion faux pas. She casually moved some of her hair out of her eyes. Her hair had a tendency to ocassionally obstruct her vision without her hat to keep it in check.
She then blinked. Had they called her pokemon awesome? Someone obviously had good taste! After a moment she smiled at the two. Then of course, blanked as she was challenged to a battle, specifically a double battle. Well that certainly sounded fun. Which three pokemon would she use though?
She looked over at Selene as Selene spoke up for them. Selene then went on to claim that they'd be an epic team before taking Valorie's hand. Valorie found herself blushing, though she made a strong effort to keep herself composed. What an inconvenience.
"That sounds great!"
"of course it does!" exclaimed Selene excitedly, punching the air and pausing, looking at Valorie more closely as she pushed her bangs to the side, the twin girls taking their places across from Sel and Valorie appearing to be deep in discussion. "Val...what happened to your beanie?" asked Selene, realising what looked different about Valorie. She'd only seen her without her beanie briefly a handful of times, but before she could answer a shout came from one of the twins. "okay, let's get this going shall we?" she shouted, releasing a Machop as her sister released a Haunter.
"let's show them what we can do," grinned Selene, pulling Blu's Pokeball from her belt and releasing him - cat would be susceptible to the Haunter's ghost type attacks, but Blu's aerial attacks could smash Machop out of the water. "go Blu, use Fly!" instructed Selene, watching as Blu soared into the air before nose-diving down towards Machop, who was ordered to counter with a Thunderpunch...drat..."evade!" yelled Selene, watching happily as Blu turned over into an Esquiva as taught in the air away from the punch and maintaining his momentum to loop up over Machop and slam the fighting pokemon into the floor.
Valorie froze up when Selene asked her where her beanie had gone. The cut on her cheek was probably partially hidden by her hair, but it was still visible if one looked. How did she go about explaining that she had been attacked by a wild Tauros and it had stolen her beanie? Seriously, where did she even start with that?
Her thoughts were interrupted as those two sisters released their pokemon. Valorie paused a moment before looking down at Trapinch.
"...Alright, Trapinch! You know what to do!"
Valorie had pointed at the Haunter. Trapinch just sort of looked up at Valorie blankly before trotting on over towards said Haunter. Valorie knew that a single bite from Trapinch's horrifically powerful jaws would be all it would take to take down most ghost pokemon. Unfortunately, Trapinch was absurdly slow, and so Haunter would have plenty of time to react to her approach.
"Blu, use your Ice Beam!" shouted Selene, watching horrified as Machop's hand shot up from its position on the floor, grabbing Blu's wing before he could make a swift getaway. Blu whirled around, steadying himself with his other wing and fired his Ice Beam at the Machop, who had somewhat short sightedly put himself within range to fire out his Seismic Toss at the order of his trainer. Unable to avoid the beam, the Machop managed to throw Blu down onto the ground before he was frozen solid. Luckily Blu had type advantage on his side, and soared up from the ground without much trouble. "Fly, Blu! Hurry, before she can heal Machop!" Selene ordered, watching as the girl rummaged in her bag for some kind of potion. As Blu smashed down onto the frozen Machop, the ice shattered into shards that tumbled down onto Machop as he crumpled on the floor, knocked out.
"Alright Blu!" exclaimed Selene happily as the girl growled, recalling her Machop and sending out a Nosepass with a somewhat smug smirk - this must be her trump card, Selene figured, the Pokemon did seem well-trained as she observed it. But then, so was Blu and her other Pokemon.
The other sister looked at Trapinch skeptically, as if trying to figure out what the plan they had was. After a moment she ordered Haunter to use Confuse Ray. Haunter's eyes glowed an eerie purple. Trapinch proceeded to stop and open her mouth as if to bite an unseen foe, yet, abruptly closed it again. She proceeded to stand there and stare at Haunter, her eyes glinting in the sunlight. Even Valorie was having difficulty telling exactly what had happened. After a moment the girl opposite her smiled in satisfaction and ordered her Haunter to use Shadow Punch. Valorie looked on with dismay as Trapinch just sat there and took the attack. Yet, it was not over. Immediately after being struck Trapinch simply bit the hand that had struck her. Valorie winced as Haunter cried out quiet loudly. Trapinch's bite was something to be feared. Haunter just sort of convulsed before fainting. The other girl seemed surprised. Valorie supposed not everyone could be so aware of all the different pokemon and the exact details of their powers. The girl returned her Haunter, sending out a Combusken. Valorie pulled out her pokeball and immediately returned Trapinch, despite the type advantage. She then thought about her pokemon choice for a moment before sending out... Charmeleon. Why wasn't she comfortable sending out her newer pokemon into battle? Perhaps she was simply afraid of losing.
"Rock Throw, Nosepass!" shouted the girl and Selene winced inwardly - Rock. If that rock hit Blu, then he could end up being in danger...only thing was, Nosepass didn't look particularly speedy and Blu's evasion in the air was second to none. "Blu, use your Astonish!" shouted Selene, watching as Blu careered over the Rock Throw, swooping down on Nosepass and screeching loudly, the Nosepass stepping backward with a small stumble, enough to allow Blu to knock it over as he slammed into the Rock pokemon.
Sel couldn't help but let out a small hiss of triumph, she just knew that Blu wouldn't come up short. Even despite the type disadvantage, she and her Swablu had such a connection...but glancing over at Valorie's Charmeleon, Selene frowned a little. Why wasn't she using Frillish? Had she ever actually used one of her lesser-trained Pokemon in a competitive battle? She couldn't remember ever putting one of her pokemon up against one of Valorie's newer catches...
Shrugging it off inwardly, Selene held out Blu's Pokeball and returned him, reaching to her belt and unclipping Cat's Pokeball. "Okay Cat, let's go!" she watched with a grin as the Abra uncurled her tail, swaying it back and forth as she hovered in the air, staring straight ahead at the Nosepass. "Cat, Psybeam!" she instructed, watching as Cat seemed to glow slightly purple before shooting a beam of psychic energy at Nosepass, striking it down instantly before it jumped back up, leaping into another Rock Throw. Cat automatically threw up her Barrier in front of the Rock Throw, Selene somewhat surprised by her defending without instruction, and shaking it off before ordering another Psybeam, that Nosepass rolled out of the way of. Gritting her teeth, Selene smiled in a way that looked not unlike a grimace, realising that this Nosepass would be more difficult to beat than she had first thought.
Valorie stared at Combusken, trying to analyze the pokemon she had never seen before. What was with the humanoid chicken? She found herself being distracted by... other thoughts. So much so that she hesitated to make the first move.
The sister controlling Combusken quickly ordered her pokemon to use Crush Claw. Combusken abruptly ran at Charmeleon, brandishing it's claws menacingly. Valorie only had a moment to react.
"Charmeleon!--"
Charmeleon, not really being one to wait for orders, was ready to fight back. She wasn't going to stand there when a pokemon came at her with a challenge. What she did. As Combusken charged her, she simply stood there. When combusken neared, however, she abruptly shifted forward, violently tilting herself forward and slamming her forhead into Combuken's. Combusken, being only around 2/3 Charmeleon's height, was knocked straight on it's back. Valorie winced. Ouch. That Combusken just got punked. Charmeleon leaned over, peering down at the fallen Combusken and snarlin and simultaneously snorting fire. Valorie couldn't help but feel that this looked a little like a scene out of some movie in which a bully beat up a nerd. It seemed to have an affect, as Combusken seemed to become unnerved, attempting to squirm away.
Combusken's trainer called out for it not to give up, and to use Crush Claw again. Meanwhile, Charmeleon sewed a flamethrower. The flamethrower hit, but it wasn't all that effective. It was then Combusken realized that Charmeleon was not about to stomp it into the next direction, but rather it could very well put up a fight. Combusken pulled through the flamethrower with only mild difficulty, striking Charmeleon in the gut with a crush claw. Charmeleon doubled over a bit in pain, griting her teeth and squinting, only to have a second crush claw strike her from below. Charmeleon was sent stumbling backwards. She then opened her eyes, only to have Combusken headbutt her in the chest. That... was a mistake. See, Charmeleon was only capable of knocking Combusken down because she was bigger. Combusken rammed into Charmeleon's chest. It hurt, but it was not enough to take her off guard a third time. Charmeleon opened her eyes, which were glowing white. The flame on her tail suddenly shot up with enhanced vigor and she abruptly spit draconian flames directly into a Combusken, who had no chance at all at dodging at such a range, not that it had had much chance to dodge to begin with. The attack was fast and precise. The sort of thing you'd need a bit more than good reflexs to just dodge out of the blue. Combusken cried out, proceeding to collapse. It had fainted. Valorie pumped her fist, rather exillerated. Two out of three. She was on a role. Charmeleon raised an arm over her chest. She was clearly feeling the pain from the attacks she had taken. Valorie took the liberty of returning her for a rest. She then hesitated. Should she use one of her weaker pokemon? She knew she should, but she was afraid of /losing/. She didn't take losing gratefully. She made a snap decission right then, based on an impulse. She sent out Axew. The girl paused for a moment, giggled, and sent out... a Nidoqueen.
"Okay Cat, let's get this Nosepass beaten! Use your Teleport and hit with Psybeam!" instructed Selene, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Valorie had sent out Axew...against Nidoqueen...woah, that would be a tough call but if anyone could answer it it was Valorie. Even though Axew was a newer pokemon, Selene just knew Valorie could win. Turning attention back to her own battle, Selene smirked at her opponent who frowned slightly, obviously not expecting the small Abra to beat her sturdy Nosepass. But Selene knew the girl was overconfident in the defensive capacity of her Nosepass...it was TOO sturdy to compete with a foe like Cat...
As Nosepass threw another Rock Throw at Cat, Cat vanished in mid-air and on reappearance instantly pummeled the Nosepass with a Psybeam. The Nosepass' face scrunched up as much as was possible, so much so that it looked both uncomfortable and in pain, before attempting to retaliate with a Stone Edge. But as Selene had suspected, the Nosepass was already a slow mover and with the mental strain of the Psybeam it had to think and work even harder before attacking. By that time, Cat had vanished and reappeared behind the Nosepass, keeping up the unrelenting Psybeam until the Nosepass cried out and fell on it's front. With a roar, the girl returned the Pokemon and glared up at Selene.
"You think you're good don't you?! Well! I'll show you!" she threw the ball...and released a Nidoking...oh this would be interesting. Selene returned Cat and paused for a moment before sending out Ri, which made the girl laugh. Yes, many people would assume that sending a fighting type out against the ground/poison Nidoking was suicide, but Sel and Ri had some moves up their sleeves.
Valorie just sort of went blank at the sight of a Nidoqueen. It was as if alll her fears about underestimating people had just turned around and laughed in her face. Crud. Nidoqueen was clearly the stronger of the two. This called for strategy. ...Except for the part where she had no strategy. She hadn't had enough time to properly train Axew and give her a proper strategy to use. This looked like it was going down hill very fast.
Of course, that was before she actually started battling.
"Axew, Dual Chop!"
Axew ran at Nidoqueen, who was ordered to use body slam. Nidoqueen waited until Axew got close before flinging herself at the small dragon pokemon. Axew promptly dodged by jumping into the air. She could jump surprisingly high, Valorie noted. Axew proceeded to fall onto Nidoqueen and strike it not once but twice with her tusks. Nidoqueen's spines raised up in a defensive maneuver, attempting to afflict Axew with poison.
"Axew, get away from those spines!"
The spines however failed to pierce Axew's scales. Axew jumped off, scratching Nidoqueen as she did so. Nidoqueen turned on Axew and narrowed it's eyes. It was a staring contest. The girl then ordered her Nidoqueen to use Iron Tail. Valorie winced. That would hurt real bad if it hit.
"Axew, use Dragon Rage!"
Axew readied herself before spewing purple flames at Nidoqueen. A crash was heard, and when the flames cleared Nidoqueen was down. Valorie was honestly surprised. She had expected Nidoqueen to be stronger than that. She silently vowed to get her pokemon some moveset training later on. It would involve hurting her wallet though. She didn't mind though. What was money not well spent?
The sister Valorie had just beaten seemed surprised as well. Perhaps it was the size difference, but both had expected Nidoqueen to be much stronger. Unfortunately for said sister this was not the case.
"Nidoking, Earthquake!" ordered the girl, and Selene glanced up at her slightly in shock - Earthquake was a somewhat powerful move to be pulling out so early in the battle...especially for a girl who had taken one look at Ri and practically laughed out loud in Selene's face. She was obviously going to be throwing everything into this fight...Nidoking was not one to be beaten apparently. Throwing a brief glance over at Nidoqueen and Axew, Valorie seemed to be holding her own for certain.
"Use your Force Palm, Ri!"
As the earth shook, Selene braced herself against the vibrations that seemed to be focused on the centre of the battlefield towards Ri. However, the girl had obviously underestimated Ri's nimble feet and speed - which was shown as Ri bounded over the shaking earth, stumbling once as the earth under them cracked throwing up a few shards of ice that had been over the surface, before smashing into Nidoking's side with his Force Palm.
"Good! Now use your Bone Rush!"
As the Nidoking tried to push himself to his feet, Ri was unrelenting and hammered down on him again with the Bone Rush. Selene winced slightly as Ri was thrown backwards by a well-placed Mud Slap, landing on his back a few feet away from Selene and leaping back to his feet, landing oddly on one of his legs. Sel suspected that Ri had hurt one of his legs, but as he flipped backwards over an impending Mud Slap he seemed to be doing well, or at least not letting it get to him.
"Okay, let's finish this! Low Kick!"
Now Nidoking was back up steadily on his feet, it was the perfect chance to use his massive bulk against him. Ri charged forwards, dodging each Mud Slap that was sent his way and flew down into a crouch in front of Nidoking - before the Pokemon could retaliate, Ri had swept his feet out from underneath him and the Nidoking came crashing to the ground, his tail falling out limply beside him. He had fainted.
Selene and the girl looked up at each other for a moment before the girl returned her Nidoking and nodded, stepping forward and holding her hand out to Sel.
"That was a great battle. I knew it would be. Your Pokemon are very well trained," she complimented, Selene laughing slightly and shaking her hand in return, smiling as Ri limped over to her side. She hugged his shoulders lightly and patted his head.
"Yeah well...they're very talented in themselves. Thank you, it was a brilliant battle, and I hope we get the chance to have a re-match one day!"
"I'm counting on it," laughed the girl lightly, moving over to where her sister was and leaving Selene to turn to Valorie.
"...Wow much?! Great battle Val!! Maybe we should pull a Nidoking, Nidoqueen combination..." she said thoughtfully - the sight of the two opposite Pokemon beside each other in battle was an amazing one
The other sister briefly took a moment to wave at Valorie before giving her sister attention. Valorie only smiled in response. That had gone better than expected. She then turned to Selene. Something about a Nidoking and Nidoqueen combination? She thought about it for a moment. She wasn't sure if Nidoqueen or Nidoking were here thing. Regardless, it didn't sound that bad of an idea.
"You think so?"
It was of course getting dark. That meant it would be getting colder. Valorie knew this well, but didn't let it concern her. The biggest thing on her mind was not being a distraction. Besides, she had been in much colder environments at night.
"Oh sure I do!" smiled Selene, reaching into her bag and taking out a potion, before crouching down and spraying Ri's injured leg liberally and rubbing the solution into Ri's muscle. She felt his leg twitch beneath her hand and looked up, noting his face was extraordinarily concentrated...he must have been more injured than she'd initially thought. Smiling apologetically, Selene stood up and turned with a sigh to face the environment around her. It was getting darker now...she hadn't realised just how much time she and Valorie had spent battling those girls, the saying was true, time flies and all that...
"Well...I suppose we ought to be getting some rest..." Selene paused, biting her lip. Now she felt pumped...she was on a roll and whilst Blu, Ri and Cat could use a break Ryan, Sharpay and Gordon hadn't had a shot in that battle, she couldn't help but feel the desire to stay up some more and train...turning to Valorie she started, noticing a cut on her cheek that she hadn't picked up on during the battle. She moved slightly closer and frowned slightly, her fingers gesturing towards the gash. "Valorie...how did you get that?"
