Moving On

Makoto's lips twinged a bit from Kuro's suggestion and his brother's nervous reaction. Both were equally Musing, however she was on a quest now and damned be if she was going to abandon it all just because of a little nuisance. "Sorry Kuro, not that easy..." She whisperd, looking to the others as Jurrickson spoke.

"Interesting..." She muttered momentarily. As if to try avoiding the fact that she too was on her way to Violet, she chose to speak of recent happenings instead. "Well Kuro here promised to help me with my Misdreavus, and I was hoping to get assistance with my Cyndaquil from...Hikaru, did you say it was?" Makoto asked (almost) convincingly. She had purposely used the wrong name. Probably obvious to Kuro, but Hakari seemed to be oblivious to most things that weren't his brother thus far.

"My name is Hakari," Hakari corrected without any clue that Makoto had gotten it wrong on purpose. He turned toward Jurrickson, "and it is always a pleasure to meet new trainers. I'm headed to Unova after I'm finish with my brother here." He finally seemed to give in and took a seat at the table.

Kuro simply grunted toward Jurrickson. "I'm going wherever my feet take me. I don't trust plans, since fate seems to always mess with me whenever I do."

Jurrickson's eyes lightened up when Hakari mentioned Unova. "Unova!" he exclaimed, "I've read several books on Unova. Heck, I read an article just the other day about Castelia City. I can't wait to see that skyscrapers of that city one day!" He was getting excited just thinking about it, but was of course getting way ahead of himself. He had to explore Johto before he could even consider heading leaving for another region. Jurrickson then heard Kuro's lackadaisical description of his travel plans and nodded in a sort of agreement. "I guess it's not a true adventure if you plan every little thing, but nonetheless I believe having a plan is most logical." He said as he smirked and readjusted his glasses.

Next he turned his attention to Makoto, who seemed a bit perturbed, but then again, that was just most likely her temperament. When he heard her say that she had a Misdreavus, however, he got a tad excited. "You have a Misdreavus! That's great! I've always loved ghost pokemon, heck my only pokemon is a ghost!" He reached for his lone pokeball on his belt and tossed it in the air, "Come on out Gastly!" The pokeball popped and released the ghoulish pokemon. His gastly floated around his head for a minute before stopping right around his shoulder. "I just got him the other day. Morty actually helped me get him. I've spent a lot of time with Ghost pokemon, but I still haven't fought with mine yet!" he exclaimed eagerly. He wasn't looking for a hardcore battle, but thought a scrimmage between pokemon could be a good experience as a new trainer.

Makoto smirked as all was said. "C'est la vie," she muttered in response to Hakari's response. Still, she wanted to train with him before leaving as he was acquainted with fire types whereas she was not. In fact, she hadn't used her Cyndaquil in a battle yet. Even so, she felt she probably had a better grasp on the 'applied sciences' of battling than the bookworm did.

"Sure you could handle a ghost in a real battle there, cupcake?" Makoto asked tauntingly to Jurrickson. She could at least claim to have been in battles before, even if she hadn't spent half her life nose in book to study how to battle. "But if you really feel up to it, I'm sure the four of us could work something out," she proposed calmly. A she did, Roxas emerged from unr the table and Misdreavus appeared circling overhead. Cyndaquil chose to finish her food first, remaining at her bowl oblivious.

"Oh, a battle," Hakari said, "I would be most delighted to participate if the lady so wishes it of me." He grinned, and bowed to Makoto. "I could never deny such a request, and I most certainly may be able to help you learn about fire types during, through use of my own or yours." He absentmindedly ran one of his hands across a Pokeball worn on his belt.

Kuro looked up at Jurrickson's Ghastly with slight curiosity. "It looks like it could put up a decent fight," he commented before glancing down at his Duskull's ball. "I like that in a ghost type." He finally looked up at Jurrickson without an irritated look, and held out his hand. "Anyone who can find their way around a ghost, especially one so new to you, earns my respect. The name's Kuro, and my brothe may not say it, but he secretly wishes he had my manly charm."

Jurrickson breathed a sigh of relief and shook Kuro's hand. "That's good to hear from someone with experience with ghost types." Of course as fate may have it, at that moment his Gastly thought it'd be really funny to use Lick on right on his cheek. Sending a paralyzing chill down Jurrickson's spine, he commented, "W-w-w-well I've g-g-g-g-got a l-l-l-long way t-t-t-to go..." he said while rubbing his arms to get warm. He turned to his gastly and, and Gastly made a cute little face and laughed a bit.

Jurrickson stretched a bit to shake off the eerie feeling from that lick, and then made a gesture to the door. "Well while I do enjoy chatting with you guys, I feel as though the time for words are nearing an end. It's time to head outside and see what our pokemon are capable of!" He said excitedly.

Makoto rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore Hakari's advancements as she stretched her arm up and over, behind her head using the other to pull on it. "Then if everyone is quite done with all these formalities..." Makoto said, trying to push things along. "Sounds like this will be a two on two battle? I suggest we head to the outskirts of town. Last time I had a battle in town they had a heck of a time cleaning up the after math," she said, thinking back to the condition she left Olivine's Pokemon Center and surrounding buildings in. That poor nurse would be cleaning sand out of crevices for months to come.

Rather than waiting for a response, she began walking to the exit. Roxas let out a little roar like growl, gaining Cyndaquil's attention. She quickly shoved her mouth full before bounding off after Makoto and the others. Now the only question is...who will I use? Makoto glanced down, thinking about her partners. Roxas was the strongest and most reliable, but the whole point of this was to train Misdreavus and Cyndaquil. She let out a soft sigh as she made her way to the edge of town where there were few buildings nearby, assuming the others would follow her.

Both Hakari and Kuro followed Makoto. Hakari was chatting nonstop about the customs and culture of the Unova region, in comparison to Johto, and Kuro was pretending to fall asleep while he walked. The two seemed to have the same stride, and though their personalities were drastically opposite, they were more similar than one would think.

They stopped when Makoto did, and both took out one Pokeball in preparation for the battle. "So," Kuro said while tossing his ball from hand to hand, "who's on who's team? I don't mind who I'm with, not even if it's my brother." Something in his voice told an unvoiced connection between the two, hinted of the powerhouse they were together, even with the amount they argued.

Hakari had a faint and rare smirk creep across his face for a moment, before turning into a full grin, supporting what was hinted at.

As they followed Makoto to a more desirable battle destination, Jurrickson's Gastly was floating up, down and all around in anticipation for the forthcoming scrimmage. He could tell the ghost pokemon was excited since it would be their first battle together as trainer and poke-companion. As they arrived at a place just on the outskirts of town, the other trainers began discussing preparations, such as how to split up the teams. Kuro offered up the option of battling alongside his brother. However, Jurrickson managed to see the grin growing on Hakari's face; of course this was a huge tell to Jurrickson that the two, while being quite on the opposite ends of the personality spectrum, must be a formidable tag-team combo.

"Well since you are brothers, I would assume you're used to battling with each other. So that works, you bros against Makoto and I." Jurrickson said as he pushed up his glasses and smirked. He knew they'd be a tough combo, but he didn't want to back down to a challenge. How else would he get any better?

Though Makoto was wary of purposely giving herself a disadvantage, she had to be confident in her abilities as well as her partners. "Okay then, cupcake. If that's the case then I suppose you'll be using a ghost type. Then I'll use my Cyndaquil to make the playing field even," she said, going against her natural instincts to use Roxas. He would have an advantage over them all, after all.

"Cyndaquil, time to strut your stuff!" Makoto said, Cyndaquil stepping forward into the 'battlefield'. She lit up, crying out as her pores sparked, gas igniting and bursting into flames. "Well, looks like we're ready then," Makoto said calmly, though inside she was a bit worried. She hadn't been in any trainer battles before, and so her experience was likely far more limited and theoretical than Hakari or Kuro's.

"Cyndaquil," Hakari commented, "A fine fire type it is." He threw his own Pokeball into the air, and bursting forth in a bright and stunning light was a Chimchar, Cyndaquil's Sinnoh counterpart. "I believe my Chimchar would be a brilliant sparring opponent for this occasion, wouldn't you agree m'lady?"

Kuro was strangely quiet, but a dark depth in his eyes told that he was mentally preparing for the battle. He stopped tossing his Duskull's ball, and instead threw it into the air, releasing the Pokemon for battle. Duskull miendered to the battlefield, seemingly unfazed by the intensity that rose from Kuro. Finally, he stopped and hovered over Hakari's Chimchar. They were both ready to battle.

Jurrickson smirked upon being called cupcake much more, but didn't pay it any attention. He simply looked at Makoto's Cyndaquil and admired its brilliant flame. His Gastly then decided it was time to join his battle partner on the field. Gastly went right up to her Cyndaquil and floated around her several times. He was obviously excited.

Next, he turned his attention to their opponents. When Hakari brought out his Chimchar, a smile creeped on Jurrickson's face. He always wanted to see a chimchar one day, as it was one of his favorites, based on what he's read of course. Then Kuro's Duskulll joined the group of pokemon , and got excited about that as well. Yet another ghost pokemon he really admired and hoped to catch one day. "What a treat," he started, "Two amazing pokemon! I've read some interesting facts on Chimchar!" he said with a smile and wide eyes. "Anyway, without any further ado, let's see what we can do. So how we gonna start this shindig?"

Makoto ignored Hakari's arrogant sounding voice. to be truthful, Makoto didn't even like Chimchar. she thought his tuft of fur on head looked an awful lot like a swirl of poo. Regardless of that fact, she wasn't fond of most things to do with Chimchar. The time had finally come, all four opponents on the battle field and ready to go. Hr heart was pounding.

Feigning a smirk, Makoto pulled down the goggles on her head to cover her eyes. "Let's test this out," she said, hoping it wouldn't affect her partner too harshly. "Cyndaquil, start off with smokescreen!" She hoped to blind the opponents, and make it easier for Cyndaquil's tactics to work against them.

"Quiiiil!" The small fire rodent cried, opening her mouth wide as she spewed out a black cloud of choking smoke. The trail headed for the opponent's side of the field, quickly swallowing the area in darkness. Cyndaquil used Smokescreen!

Chimchar, Level 12

Duskull, Level 7

Hakari and Kuro exchanged ready glances, and nodded to each other. As the smoke filled the battlefield, both of their Pokemon felt the effects, and looked around slightly confused, unsure of the exact location of their opponents.

Kuro was the first to make a command, "Duskull," he said, "Ready a Disable for any attack that comes your way." Duskull was hesitant to comply, but bobbed his head in a nod, and created an eerie aura around himself, readying a Disable to launch on any attacker.

Hakari seemed both impressed by the tactic of the SmokeScreen and annoyed. "Let's make sure that doesn't happen again," he muttered, "Chimchar, Taunt on Cyndaquil." Chimchar enthusiastically jumped in front of Cyndaquil before making several moves to try and anger his foe, attempting to Taunt her into an angry frenzy and make her disregard moves such as SmokeScreen.

The battle started off fast paced and Jurrickson was ready to make his first move. The field was covered in smoke, giving them a slight advantage. He observed as Hakari's Chimchar taunted Cyndaquil, and Kuro's Duskull readied a disable attack. Well, I could go after Chimchar while he's taunting, or I could attack Duskull, but then that attack would become unusable for some time... Jurrickson was going through the options in his head at a rapid pace before sending out his command. "Ok Gastly, I want you go into the smokescreen!" Following his command, Gastly floated directly into the black cover. He did this in hopes of having Gastly get out of the two opponent pokemon's line of sight. After spending several seconds moving in the smokescreen, Jurrickson stated his next command: "Ok Gastly, jump out of the smokescreen and hit Duskull with a hypnosis!" With this, Gastly rapidly arose from the smokey mess and stared right at Duskull. Hoping to catch Duskull by surprise Gastly's eyes glowed red, then a red line was projected from his eyes directed toward Duskull in hopes of making the ghost fall asleep.

Makoto was rather pleased with the outcome, having succesfully put her side at an advantage. Her heart continued to beat rapidly, still quite anxious over the whole ordeal. That's when that annoying little monkey popped up, taunting Cyndaquil with irritating gestures and sounds. It was definitely succesful at its job, as Makoto was now rather irate and Cyndaquil furious.

"Quiiil!" She cried out angrily, the flames on her back burning brighter and larger than before. Enraged, her body quivered with anticipation to attack the monkey. Makoto knew she wouldn't be able to do anything but be on the offensive for a while now, not while Cyndaquil was in her frenzy.

"Alright then! Cyndaquil, use tackle on that monkey!" The trainer was quick and decisive in her actions. Cyndaquil responded quickly, rushing at the opponent with passion in her eyes. However, due to her training she was ready to dodge a possible close range attack before going in for a strike herself. She ducked low and to the side seemingly awkwardly, before lunging up at Chimchar's mid-section. Cyndaquil used Tackle!

Kuro and Hakari exchanged nervous looks with a subtle intensity and worry, but maintained their composure. "Not bad," Kuro said, watching the launched counterattacks. "I think this'll be an interesting battle."

Duskull was too focused on conjuring a Disable to suspect an attack on himself. He had a false sense of bravado, believing that they wouldn't attack him while it was in place. The Hypnosis slammed into Duskull, and dragged him into the depths of sleep, not allowing him to be able to put his own Disable into place. He hovered vulnerably, in a deep sleep.

Chimchar chuckled at Cyndaquil, and pushed off the ground with his hands and hurled himself into the air, sailing right above her angry charge. He grinned develishly, and the flame that made his tail blazed a little bit brighter, his excitement growing. He made his own charge at Cyndaquil while raking his claws through the air, an attempt at a Scratch attack.

As soon as the hypnosis attack hit, Jurrickson breathed a sigh of relief. It felt good to get this battle started off right, and was now feeling ready to focus in on the battle at hand. With Duskull falling into a deep slumber, he had a few options on the table: either go for a direct attack on Duskull, or help out Makoto's Cyndaquil. Chimchar had just dodged Cyndaquil's dodge and started its own scratch attack. Without much time to think, he made his decision. "Alright Gastly, while Duskull is sleepin, I want you to launch a Shadow ball directly at him!" Gastly nodded in agreement and opened its mouth wide to generate the shadowy orb. When the orb became about the same size as Gastly, it was shot out of his mouth at a fast rate, heading right at the sleepy Duskull.

"Tuck and roll!" Makoto ordered. She had taught her Cyndaquil to be agile and versatile rather than a block like powerhouse. The small rodent curled into a ball, her flames being exposed to Cimchar's scratch attack. Sure she took damage, but she hoped that Chimchar would too. Cyndaquil hit the ground, tumbling a step or two before popping our of the curl and dashing around. She knew a moving target was harder to hit.

Good, Duskull is asleep. That will let me focus on Chimchar for now without too much worry... Makoto thought, scanning the battle field rapidly. Her mind was a mass of cranking gears, putting together the best possible solution for now. "Gotta finish Chimchar before Duskull wakes..." She muttered. "Cyndaquil, tackle again!" Makoto ordered. It would be silly to use ember right now on another fire type, and she couldn't use any of the status moves.

"Quill!" Cyndaquil cried, circling around. She pushed off a rock, rushing at Chimchar once more. This time she would feign an attack and await for him to dodge. She could change direction almost on a dime, and then take her opportunity to strike! Cyndaquil used Tackle!

Duskull floated idly, being easy prey for the dark mass of the Shadow Ball that slammed into him. He was sent spiraling backwards through the air, but somehow wasn't woken from his unnaturally deep slumber. Once his spiral finally halted, he still hovered, helplessly. Two more turns of sleep.

Kuro groaned and looked at his useless Pokemon. "Sorry bro," he said, "this battle looks like it'll be all yours."

Hakari cleared his throat nervously, but gave his brother a thumbs up. "It'll work out," he said, "things are just getting started."

Chimchar cried out, and yanked his hand out of the burning flame, a few tears forming in his eyes. "Char!" he exclaimed angrily. When Cyndaquil launched from the rock, Chimchar fell right for her plan. He dodged to the left to get out of the way of the Tackle, allowing Cyndaquil the opportunity for her true attack.

The shadow ball was a success, and Duskull was still asleep. "Alright, great job Gastly!" Jurrickson said with a smile. This was going rather well, but he didn't want to get too ahead of himself. The way I figure, I can afford to leave Duskull alone for a bit... he thought to himself. He noticed Cyndaquil's attack connect and saw it as a good chance to get another good hit on Chimchar. "Ok Gastly, time to attack Chimchar. Use Lick!" Gastly zigged and zagged till he reached Chimchar and let loose its big tongue. It was aimed right at Chimchar's face, hoping to send a spine-tingling chill through the fire-chimps body.

"All right!" Makoto cheered, watching Cyndaquil's tackle make contact. A fortune may have it, Duskull then appeared on the other side of Chimchar, prepared to lick it as Cyndaquil's tackle pressed in that direction. "Okay Cyndaquil, break off and pick up speed!" Makoto orderred, Cyndaquil quickly running around still in her rage. Just a bit more... Makoto thought.

"Now, tackle!" Cyndaquil's name was called out, a battle cry as her fury reached its peak. Her flames burning brightly, she rushed Chimchar, holing for the tackle to hit after Duskull's paralyzing Lick. Perhaps Hakari and Kuro were only a dubious team under proper circumstances? Makoto didn't know, but she did know that right now they had the upper hand. Cyndaquil used Tackle!

Kuro gritted his teeth as he watched his useless Pokemon bob in the air like a sitting duck. Duskull did start shifting in the air, however, showing he would awake and join the fray soon. One more turn of sleep.

Chimchar shuddered as the tongue made contact with his face, but he wasn't paralyzed. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed, and a huge pillar of flame grew from his tail and surrounded his body, though for only a moment. There was an air of power and fire around him, and his Blaze ability kicked in. As Cyndaquil sped toward him, he cartwheeled to the side, and narrowly dodged it. He then turned toward Ghastly and a dense flame formed in his mouth, and hurled at the ghost, it was an Ember attack, and one greatly amplified because of the Blaze.

Hakari gave Kuro a knowing look, and the two brothers grinned. "Now the real battle begins," he said, admiring his Chimchar.

Jurrickson was glad that his pokemon's attack had hit, but had a look of shock when he saw the fire of Chimchar's tail become more fierce. Damn, that means he's activated his blaze ability... It looks like this one's gonna hurt, he thought. Trying to be quick on his feet he commanded Gastly: "Ok Gastly, sorry, but stand your ground and take the hit!" he shouted, hoping to inspire some confidence. The powerful ember slammed into the ghost, causing him to fall to the ground. After a few seconds, gastly still reeling from the attack, floated up and was ready to return fire. "Gastly, return fire and use shadow ball!" Gastly nodded and launched a shadow ball at Chimchar.

Makoto grit her teeth when the Chimchar managed to narrowly dodge Cyndaquil's attack. "Tsk," she hissed, feeling the balls of her feet press into the soil. However, before she could order another attack she noticed something from the corner of her eyes. It was Duskull, and he was beginning to stir. "Oh no you don't," she said, throwing her voice to get Cyndaquil's attention.

"Cndaquil, use ember on that Duskull!" She demanded, wanting to knock it down as fast as possible before awakening. Cyndaquil nodded, rushing around Gastly to bring Duskull into clear view. Her flames burned brightly, heat working its way up from her gullet. Se opened her mouth, shooting the flames at the sleeping foe with a battle cry. Cyndaquil used Ember!