The Journey Continued - Stronger than Stone?

(What's up with the Mega Absol...with a saxophone or something (or is it a trumpet?) in your profile pic? :3 Something's fishy~ >>)

Marill was struck again, but thankfully it was a weaker attack than ThunderPunch, and it's defense and sp.defense were pretty good. She managed to hold on by a thread, long enough to uncurl, cast a weary look around and break into another Rollout to bowl over the Elekid. While Marill was keeping Elekid busy, Vulpix was sneaking off to take advantage of the napping Seed pokemon. She covered herself with red-hot flicking tongues of fire to crash into the Bulbasaur and trap it with Fire Spin.

(Fenn was doodling so me and Reta asked for her to draw us each one... I got a MegaAbsol playing a sax, so maybe she's hinting at something? ;P )

Izzy gripped Croconaw's Pokeball so hard his knuckles were white. Bulbasaur was defenseless to the Fire Spin attack, and Elekid had his own problem to deal with... "Elekid, use Low Kick on Marill to try and launch it into the air, then use Thunderpunch to end it!" Elekid nodded and kicked out at Marill as the rolling Poke came close, charging his left fist with electricity as he did so. He would wait until his first attack connected, then punch with everything he had left. Meanwhile, Vulpix slammed into Bulbasaur, tossing flames everywhere and doing brutal damage to his little friend. Izzy cursed under his breath, then called out to Bulbasaur. "You know, Bulbasaur, I promised you and your parents that I'd help you grow stronger. But I can only do so much from back here - in the end, it all comes down to you, and how strong YOU want to be! So man up, wake up, and show them what you're made of!" The little green dinosaur barely reacted to either the attack or his Trainer's words, and laid there snoring.

(o3o She is? I can't imagine what~ No, really.)

The Marill was gone by the time the Punch connected. The Low Kick had taken it out and it flopped limply to the ground, crackling with electricity. The Vulpix seemed enraged at the defeat of her companion, and with something not unalike a roar, she sprang at Elekid, to crash into him with a Fire Spin, embers dripping from her exposed fangs.

(... Probably nothing! :D)

Izzy stared with wide eyes as Vulpix's attack connected, and nearly K.O.'ed his friend. "ELEKID!" Unable to bear seeing the little guy suffer any further, he looked away from the Electric type. Blinking hard a few times, he slapped himself in the face. Get a grip, Izzy, you can still do this! His scream had brought Bulbasaur back from dreamland, and as the little Poke began to stir, it seemed to realize what a serious situation this battle had become. "Alright, Bulbasaur, it's all you bud! Show'em what you got! Take Down!" The little green guy finished shaking himself awake, and charged towards the Vulpix as fast as he could, a slight silvery aura surrounding him.

(...Excuse me. Fire Spin traps your pokemon. So I'll assume Elekid's still out there~ :D)

Vulpix changed her focus back to Bulbasaur who was stampeding towards her, and agilely jumpd towards him, perhaps attempting to jump over again, when suddenly her leg buckled, and she went down with a cry, right under Bulbasaur's feet. But she wouldn't go down without fighting. Even as she lay there in the face of impending doom, she donned a coat of flames to damage upon contact.

This wasn't going well. Elekid was doing his best not to succumb to the flames, but he was close to unconsciousness. And Bulbasaur was in no condition to win this on his own... Stop. Breathe. Look at the problem, what you have, and figure it out. Guts can only get you so far. As he thought this to himself, Bulbasaur crashed into Vulpix, taking damage from the recoil and flames. As he scanned the area, he put Croconaw's Pokeball away, once again in control. "Elekid, get to that water and put yourself out! We'll get you taken care of as soon as we finish this. Bubasaur, roll on the ground to smother those embers!" As his pokemon followed their respective instructions, Izzy grimaced. Misty was probably going to stomp on them, if he didn't improve himself by a wide margin, and quickly. His pokemon were probably strong enough, if you accounted for their type advantage.
As Elekid flopped into the water, a cloud of steam arose from his body. The flames were out, for now, but he wasn't going to be returning to combat any time soon. Bulbasaur had gotten enough dirt and mud rubbed on himself to put out what little fire had been clinging to him, but the damage he had taken already was evident. Huffing and puffing, the little green guy was pretty much gassed. But, he was still up, and that was a sign of improvement. Izzy wasn't sure what to do about this, though - another Take Down might knock Bulbasaur out, and Tackle wasn't fast or strong enough to keep Vulpix from ending it herself. There was only one option. Wing it and hope for the best. "Alright Bulbasaur, it's coming down to the wire. We've got one shot, and that's it. Put everything you've got into this!" As he spoke, Bulbasaur began to glow with a hazy green aura. Overgrow? Just in the nick of time. "Bulbaaaaaaaa!" The little poke knew what to do, and unleashed a Vine Whip attack with all the speed and force he had available.

To her credit, beyond the tough front the sturdy little Fox pokemon - normally known to be very frail - was in a similar state, panting, gasping for breath and excruciatingly tired. Intensely tried, she dipped her head to acknowledge her adversaries, and decided to end it here. Best not to drag out this increasingly serious battle. All the combatants were mostly done for anyway. She had watched with keen eyes as the trainer efficiently ordered his pokemon around, and was seemingly satisfied. With a flick of her tail, before the fast approaching grass attack struck, she shoved her Marill companion into the water where she would slowly but surely recover, peacefully and undisturbed.

The boosted Vine Whip struck, leaving two angry red - well, redder than her fur - welts. No matter. They'd heal. These cuts and injuries would soon fade. For now, just sweet, sweet rest. As the Vulpix fainted and drifted into oblivion, the Marill weakly hoisted herself and dragged her companion away to a sheltered spot where they both might recover. The trainer and his pokemon had reigned supreme in the so assumed battle of dominance.

Bulbasaur gained 14 exp!
Bulbasaur grew to level 16 with 8 exp left!
Elekid gained 14 exp!

You may evolve your Bulbasaur now

Izzy sighed, dropping to one knee as he recalled Elekid. That was close, but we did it. As he put Elekid's Pokeball away and grabbed Bulbasaur's, he looked over at the little guy. "Well done, buddy. That took a lot of guts. Keep this up, and you'll be stronger than you could have ever believed in no time." The green Poke panted a bit, before crying out in triumph. "Bulbaaaaaa... SAUR!" The hazy green aura began to shine brighter, turning silvery as it completely enveloped the Pokemon. Holy. Miltank. As the Poke began to shift forms, Izzy could only watch in awe, speechless. This was his first time seeing an evolution, after all. The seconds ticked by, and after what seemed like both an instant and an eternity, the glow began to subside. Sitting there, in all his glory, was the newly evolved Ivysaur. "... Whoa. Um... Congrats, little bud! You've gotten so much stronger from when we first met. And we can only go forward from here, right?" Ivysaur nodded his head affirmatively, then sat back on his haunches and yawned. It was pretty clear that he'd been tired out by the day's proceedings. "Alright, we'll talk more later, once we get home to Cerulean. Take a well-earned rest." He recalled the Poke, standing wearily as he did so. Homeward bound, and we won't be staying long. Not only that, but we won't be back for some time after we leave... Shrugging these thoughts away, Izzy began to make his way through the winding tunnel. He'd worry about things like that after they successfully earned the Cerulean Gym Badge.

(Somehow I can never, ever make out when a topic exit is made, and when it isn't ._. Also, Red/Blue's pokedex entry states : 'When the bulb on its back grows large, it appears to lose the ability to stand on its hind legs.' And yet Ivysaur sits on it's haunches. Bizarre, isn't it? X3 But seriously though, is that a topic exit? o3o )

[That is rather odd... I've never noticed that little discrepancy until you brought it up. And yes, it is; from now on I'll add an OOC note in brackets that clearly states that it's a topic exit. Sorry <# ]