A Reason to Battle

[Finn]

((OOC: I would like to keep the RP to only 3 or 4 ppl, after that please ask before joining.))

Finn had been in Hearthome for only ten minutes, and he was already in trouble with the police. To be fair though, it wasn't really his fault. It was more of an overreaction. He sighed, and sat down on a bench, pulling out the pokeball containing his Mismagius.

"Honestly, I let you out for five minutes, some kid starts cry'in, and i'm given a $2000 fine for assualt!"

The pokeball wiggled apologetically, and Finn put the ball away.

'Well, if I cant pay, then I guess I could do the other option..... comunity service.' he shuddered at the thought. Just then a flyer blowing in the wind caught his eye. He grabbed it. It was an notification about a Pokemon compotition being held that same day.

"'Minimum entry requirements:" he read to himself, "Entrants must be over the age of ten and must own three or more pokemon.' Hmmm...." He looked at the prizes.
"

• First Place: $10,000
• Second Place: $5,000
• Third Place: $2,000

"Well well well," Finn said to himself, "this is my lucky day." At the bottom of the page were the words:
'All those interested in participating must sign up at the Pokemon Contest Hall Between the hours of 11:00am and 1:30pm. The competition will begin at 2:00pm.'

Finn looked at his watch, which read 1:10. 'I better hurry.' he thought, and with that he headed towards the contest hall.

((OOC: I have begun drafting a char. bio and it will be up soon ))

 

[Belle]

[size=8pt]ooc| Joininngggg. We only needed to start asking after the first four people, right? Dx
-too tired to understaaannndd-
Apologies if I've misunderstood x:


It had taken almost three times as long to reach Hearthome than usual.
Probably because it had been a late night, and her dragonite was too tired to fly them there.
That, and her charizard was too lazy.
She would have found the situation amusing, had it been any other day.
Like the ones where she wasn't trying to be somewhere before 1:30.
But she had been fortunate- The trek from Pastoria wasn't very long, and the skies were clear and sunny.

Belle's yellow shoulder-clinger chirped happily upon their entry into the city. They had been here not more thana week ago, and were happy to be returning to it's cheery atmosphere.
Recognizing the Contest Hall's looming structure, she grinned and broke into a brisk run, her heart thumping with the new adrenaline rush that the upcoming contest wrought.
Pushing the doors open, she advanced calmly to the counter despite the pikachu's wriggling as it crawled from shoulder to shoulder, unable to contain it's enthusiasm.
A grin creased her lips as she pulled the pokemon off of her, cradling it in the crook of her arm as she engaged a conversation with the girl behind the counter. Running a hand through the mass of disheveled, chocolate ringlets to make her hair a bit more tolerable, she took one of the forms left on the counter.

"G'morning Sunny, how was your weekend?"
The receptionist beamed at the recognition, providing a pen for the trainer.
"Peachy-keen Belle. Good to see you again, though I didn't think you'd be back for another contest so soon."

Her eyes on the paper and watching as she filled it out with the appropriate information, she gave a chuckle in response.
"Well, Rusty here had a ball last week which, consequently, made my poor absol just a bit jealous. We eventually agreed to come back for this week's contest after we made it to Pastoria to check out the Great Marsh."
"And how was it?"
"Lovely, of course." she replied, sliding the sheet and pen back to the girl. "Wish me luck, Yah?"
Sunny gave a grin as she put the form on the top of the pile and adjusted her glasses to get a better look at Belle. She seemed to have grown a bit from the last time she saw her; the yellow dress she wore seemed to be a bit higher up the black leggings from her previous visit.
"Of course. Remember, I'll be watching. Put on a show for me, okay?"
A mutual grin passed between them as Belle took her leave, fumbling around with the Absol's pokeball as she made her way into the crowd.[/size]

 

[Finn]

((OOC:yes you are welcome to join, we only put a cap on after 3 or 4,))

Finn arrived at the massive structure of the Contest hall at about 2:20. He walked through the sliding doors and pushed his way towards the the sign-up desk. He filled out the paperwork, entering all of his pokemon, and handed it to the woman tending the desk. She reviewed the entry sheet, and looked at him.

"Please know that you may only use three pokemon per a round of battle." she said politely.

Finn smiled and nodded. He turned and walked away. He surveyed the scene: mostly weak trainers, a serious one here and there. There was one trainer though that caught his eye though. She was fumbling with a pokeball, and had a fidgety Pikachu sitting on her shoulder. He decided she would be a good person to be friends with for the competition, and so he walked up to her. "Hello," he said politely, "my name is Finn."

((OOC: do you have a char. bio?))

 

[GP_39]

ooc: Sorry about the Godmoding, although it was minor and unrelative. I fixed up everything, and wrote a letter of apology to Finn. Sorry Belle, but I couldn't get it sent to you.

Hearthrome huh? This was Lance's first time in Sinoh, and of all places he ended up here...
... He had heard that there was a contest at the grand hall. But Lance had no idea where to go.

The streets were deserted. Flyers blew across the empty streets. The wind played with Lance's soft, brown hair. Everyone was probably at the contest hall. Lance started aimlessly walking, whistling a tune he could not remember right, hoping to find the hall before the contest started. He felt as those he was being followed...
...
...
Lance snapped around to find a little young boy following him at a distance. The boy was kind of scraggly, dirty even. Lance smiled, the child reminded him of himself when he was a kid. Suddenly the boy spoke, as though he had been debating something. The boy shyly asked if Lance would play the guitar. Lance grinned, innocence, it always caught him. Lance agreed to if the boy would tell him how to get to the hall. The boy cheerfully agreed. So Lance played Pokemon Medly Two on his guitar while the youngster led. The boy marched to Lance's guitar tune. The music abruptly stopped when Lance saw the towering building ahead. He was awe struck when he reached the grand hall, it was nothing like the contest halls in Hoenn. If he was not so reserved, his mouth would have hung open. Lance gandered over the immence building that stood before him. The boy was smiling all the while. Lance gave a grin back to the boy, the boy reminded Lance of himself a whole lot. The boy thanked Lance, and waved. Lance was thankful for the boy's help, and for the boy's company. He said good bye to the boy and went through the double doors, deep in thought, jacket unbottoned, guitar on back. He waited at in the line that had formed. He after a few long minutes made his way to the front desk to fill out the paper work. He had three minutes to spare.

Absent mindedly, as usual, he filled out the paper work. He showed her his trainer card and gave an occasional grunt to the receptionist when appropriate. The lady seemed nice with a big smile, but she could obviously just be a phony. Lance looked around, there were a lot of friendly looking faces, a lot of phony faces, but no one he knew. There was the boy who rushed off, he was talking to a girl with a Pikachu on her shoulder, another boy was attempting to revive his fainted Bidoof, and a whole hodge podge of trainers. Lance looked but didn't find anyone he thought would be too great a challange.
"Thank you for registering with us today and good luck to you!" The receptionist snapped Lance's trance.
"Yeah" Lance muttered, "Thanks."

Lance walked over to the corner of the main entrance hall, it wasn't as crowed over there. That was the way he liked it. Yet he wanted to get a better idea of his competition.

[attachment deleted by admin]

 

[Kyupper]

"Five minutes!" someone outside the building called. "Hurry up if you want to enter!"
Oh, no, please let me make it there on time!
April, or Mudskipper as she was occasionally called, rushed into the contest hall with two minutes to spare. "Oi, Mudkip, sometimes I do wish you could swim a little faster."
"Mud-kip-kip." Her Mudkip, leaning out of the pocket of her jeans, smiled sheepishly.
"Oh, that's alright." She patted it. "At least we're here on time."
She walked up to the sign-up desk and the lady behind the counter pushed a sheet of paper at her. She took a pen attached to the form,scratched in the information, and showed her trainer ID. When she had finished, the lady took it back and smiled. "Good luck."
April responded with a nod and she walked into the large room following it. It was absolute chaos. Trainers were reviving their pokemon, giving them vitamins and drugs and poffins, asking them for practice attacks, dressing them up. A few eleven-year-olds were chasing a Pichu using Quick Attack, and one trainer was using a Torchic to thaw out a Treecko. A few trainers caught her eye. They were talking, a boy and a girl, the girl with a Pikachu on her shoulder. She walked up to the boy and the girl.
"Hi. I'm Mudskipper."

 

[Finn]

((OOC: Mudskipper, ignore GP_39, he is out of the RP for godmoding))

Finn turned away from the girl with the picachu, and looked at the girl who had walked up.
"Muddskipper eh? Strange name, sounds like a nickname. My names Finn and this is..." he looked at the girl with the pikachu, "what did you say your name was?"

 

[Belle]

[size=8pt]ooc| I do indeed have a bio finished- It's on page four of the mainstream character bio forum c:

Alert at the sounds of new voices, she smiled and turned to face the two strangers.
"Hey, sorry. Ah, I'm Belle. It's nice to meet you both, and I'm assuming you're both participating in this competition? Have you decided which pokemon you're going to use?"
An old hand on the contest scene, it was clear when there was someone fairly new to the scene present.
"Have you two been in many contests?" she added, directing the question more at Finn than the girl.

Rusty, in light of the newcomers, had settled onto one position on her shoulder, leaning out as much as gravity would allow to sniff curiously at the boy and girl, and beam happily at the mudkip that seemed to be Mudskipper's companion.[/size]

 

[Finn]

((OOC: just so we're all clear this is a battle competition))

Finn smiled as he remembered some of his old battles and accomplishments on Hoen. "Well, I've done my share of battling, but never in a competition, no. As for my pokemon, well, I entered all of them. I only have six, would you like to meet them?" As he said it, a pokeball with chains and a large padlock fell out from under his sweatshirt, and started thrashing on the floor violently.

 

[Kyupper]

April stared at the ball. "What...is that? Is it Curse or something?"

 

[Finn]

Finn looked uneasy as he leaned down and picked up the thrashing pokeball. "This is my Dragonair, Anina, she's......" Finn fumbled over the word, "......aggressive, towards other pokemon." He quickly stuck the pokeball back in his pocket. "The padlock arrangement is a.... precaution."

 

[Kyupper]

"I...uh...never exactly saw anyone padlock a Poke Ball." April winced, thinking it was probably one heck of a monster. She gripped the seams of her pants, trying to soothe her tingling fingertips. "Um...so, anyway, do you have the time? When is this going to finally start?"
"Kip!"
"Ayee!" April yelled as her Mudkip shot a Water Gun at nothing in particular, which hit a Light Screen put up by a Kadabra, bounced back, and hit her right in the face. She shook her head slightly, dripping wet.
"Kip...mudkip."
"Oi...it's...okay."

 

[Belle]

[size=8pt]Finn's explanation of the padlocked pokeball was enough to set anyone uneasy.
Belle watched with a concerned sort of curiosity, and could feel her pikachu's eyes watching the display warily.
"Ah.. Sounds like a handful. I suppose I should be thankful all my pokemon get along."
She hesitated as she felt her fingers reach instinctively for the pokeballs at her waist, the smooth metal cool to the touch.

"Are you using your dragonair in the competition?"
She didn't really have time to listen for a reply before Mudskipper had gotten a face full of water.
"Oh!"
Pulling her bag around to her frint, she dug feverishly until she had gotten her hands on a wash towel, offering it to the girl with a look that was clear she was suppressing a giggle.
"Are you alright? And ah.. It's about 1:45."

ooc| Sorry about the mix-up, I thought it was a contest when you said it took place at the contest hall c:[/size]

 

[Curtkid]

(OOC: Hope you don't mind me joining, but you did say the max was four, hope you don't mind, as GP_39 is out)

"Bah, just made it", Curtis gasped as he reached the reception desk a little bit less then a minute before registraitions were going to close. He panted heavily, grabing on to the desk, as he just spirinted a mile, but what seemed like five. Curtis's head turned to his faithful dragon compainion, Charizard, who, with his great speed, helped Curtis with his sprint to the contest hall.

"Remind me why we didn't just fly here", Curtis asked Charizard angrly.

"Now, what fun would that hve been, Charizard said to Curtis. Being friends since Curtis was four, they could understand each other without telepathic communication he heard about".

"Ummmm, are you going to sign up", the receptionest asked.

"Oh, right, errr, lets see", Curtis said as he thought about what Pokemon should participate, "I'll enter my Charizard, Feraligatr, and my Sceptile please". She hit a few buttons on her computer, asked for his name, and in a minute, he was set.

Thier you go, your all set, the match will being shortly", the girl said.

"Right thanks", Curtis said, joinning the crowd talking about the up coming compotition, "ready buggy"? Charizard flashed a nice little grin.

"But of couse", he said giving a thumbs up.

 

[Kyupper]

Mudskipper took the towel.
"Thanks...I'm fine. Mudkip, I do wish you would think before you squirt!"
"Mud...mudkip."
She patted it as she dried off. "That's alright. You do need to learn a bit, though." She turned to Belle and Finn. "So, d'you think any of us have a chance to win? This is my first contest battle."

 

[Finn]

Finn was relieved the mudkip had changed the subject, and laughed a bit at the squirt it had made. "Well, my dragonair may be violent, but that mudkip seems a bit less predictable." he leaned down and tickled the mudkip under its chin a bit. "As for winning I would be happy just getting in third, but I bet I could easily place second, most of these trainers look like they are gonna fall out pretty quickly." He felt a nudge at his belt. "Oh, i'd like you guys to meet one of my pokemon, come on out Cacturne!" In a flash of white light, a brilliant green cacturne almost as tall as Finn appeared. "Guys, this is my cacturne, Casey Jones, or just Joe, for short."

"Cactuuuuurne!" it bellowed loudly.

 

[Belle]

[size=8pt]Belle grinned at the mudkip and Finn's comment.
"Too true. How long have you two been together?"
Turning to watch as the cacturne emerged from it's ball, she gave a dogged smile.
"I've never been a huge grass pokemon fan, but cacturnes I always found intruiging. Now that everyone's introducing their team, I'm sure Kodent is dying to come out." She found herself explaining her decision as her hand went to retrieve a black pokeball from her belt, the luxurious red stripes running across it's surface glinting in the fluorescent light. "Luxury Ball. Now, he's not fond of the enclosed space, comfortable as it may be, but he's too big to keep out."
The red light shot out of the ball like a bullet, materializing into an abnormally large white pokemon.
The absol stood still for a moment, though with the way his white coat rippled it was clear that his muscles were extending and flourishing in the open space.
Opening one pale red eye, the pokemon's lips curled into a wary grin to expose two very sharp canines on ither side of it's maw.
With one swift movement, he turned on his trainer and bit down on her neck.

Grunting, Belle started to push the great beast off of her, wincing as he fastened his grip with a happy purr.
"He's.. nngh- Ah, surprisingly tender for his size and species. He's really as gentle as a lamb."
[/size]

 

[Kyupper]

Mudskipper looked at the Absol. "I've never heard of any pokemon not liking a Luxury Ball, but you're right, it would be rather hard to keep something that big out of its ball all the time." She gave a small giggle at the thought. "How many pokemon do you have with you? I've got six."

 

[Belle]

[size=8pt]Finally managing to heave the great creature off of her, she gave a tired smile and rubbed his head affectionately.
"Yeah, with him you'd be surprised. He hated the thought of being captured at first. It was hard to make him friendly, but I don't regret it. Even the bites."
The absol, rubbing itself on her like a cat and, consequently, knocking her off balance numerous times, finally took a seat at her side with piercing eyes surveying the area.
"I've got a full party- six pokemon. I try to keep it well-balanced, so I don't usually have two of the same type." she grinned, running her fingers through the white pokemon's soft white fur as Rusty perched atop his head, fiddling with the shorter white hairs with a look of content.[/size]

 

[Curtkid]

As he sat on the squish seat, a small group of trainers caught his attention. One kid, appearnlty had a Catcturne, and a tough looking one at the. One girl of the part let loose a intregingly big Absol that immediatly bite its train. Curtis's impulse was to let loose one of his own pokemon to help the girl, but almost immediatly he figured out the Absol was show his affecting for the girl.

"Look like you have some competition", Curtis said to his Charizard, which was also about a foot bigger then a regular Charizard.

"Just what we were hoping for", Charizard replied cracking his knuckles, eagure to fight a new foe, expecialy ones as promising as these. Curtis then noticed a few of his Pokeballs shaking. Curtis reached over to his belt and unhocked the quivering Pokeblls, which turned out to be Feraligatrs and Sceptiles. They too were eagure for conflict.

"Don't worry guys, the match will start soon, atleast, I think so, Curtis said impachiently.

 

[Belle]

[size=8pt]Taking her eyes off the absol for a moment- but just a moment, she couldn't risk letting him take advantage of her negligence, Belle seized the chance to peer around at the competition.
Finn was right, there wasn't much to see other than a few fully evolved pokemon, like the charizard looming on the other side of the room. He was a colossal beast- Certainly much larger than her Charme even. Though Charme wasn't much bigger than average as it was..
Maybe she'd luck out and encounter a few trainers that posed a real threat-
Yeee, mean thoughts.
Frowning at herself she returned to keeping a watchful eye on Kodent. He was strong, but a little uncontrollable. Hopefully he'd be good and not try to decimate the contest hall..[/size]

 

[Finn]

Finn laughed at the absols behavoir, but Joe was Curios at the prospect of another dark pokemon. It observed the absol silently, and then gave it an almost challenging look. Finn noticed and, gave Joe a 'save it for the competition' look, and Joe backed down. "Sorry," Finn said, "Joe here has never actually met a fully dark pokemon before." He looked to where Belle was looking and saw the massive charizard. 'Well,' he thought, 'i know how to deal with that.' He reached into his pocket, where he kept his Crawdaunt. "I keep a full party of pokemon as well, but I-"

Attention all participants, the battle competition will now begin!
First two Battles: Finn vs. Rachel, and Mudskipper vs. James!

((OOC: belle please act as my oppenent, i will do same for you, curtkid, please act as Mudskippers))

 

[Kyupper]

Mudskipper looked at the intercom as the announcement was broadcasted, as if there was something to see. She then looked at Belle and Finn.
"Guess I'll see you--well, one of you--in the finals. Good luck."
With that, she left to find Curtis. He was sitting down, a Charizard next to him. Mudskipper walked up.
"Are you ready?"

 

[Belle]

[size=8pt]ooc| Sure thing c:
And ah, Mudskipper? I think James and Rachel were just filler characters, the boy with the charizard is Curtis and Belle is.. Belle :3
But I could be wrong.

Grinning as the other two prepared for their first battle, Belle collected her pikachu and returned Kodent to his pokeball.
"I'm looking forward to seeing excellent battles from both of you. Good luck."

Trainers not in the first few battles were usually ushered out of the foyer and into dressing rooms- if they so desired. Most remained in their casual clothes but others more serious about the competition would change into more formal attire.
It was at this point that Belle started down one of the main hallways to seek out an empty room for clothing preparations.[/size]

 

[Curtkid]

(OOC: I'll be happy to act as Muds opponent)

"Huh", Curtis said startled, he sort of spaced out while waiting for the announcement, in his spaciness, he must of missed the origional one, "Yeah sure, I'm not going to get dressed, so we minus well head straight into the arena, and we're ready, right Charizard"? The dragon nodded viguriously with a big, closed mouth smile. The two Pokeballs wiggled respectively, eagur for a battle! Though, Feraligatrs didn't wiggle as much, he often got a bit nervous before a big match. Curts smiled, he didn't enter this tournament for the money, he entered it for the love of the sport that is, Pokemon battling.

"Well", said his Charizard excitedly," are we gunna stand around until were disqualified or are we going to get in the arena"?

"Come, let's go, ummm, whats your name", Curtis asked as they headed into the large autotorium.

 

[Kyupper]

(OOC: Leave it to me to misunderstand. )

"I'm Mudskipper," Mudskipper replied. Mudkip wiggled a bit in her pocket as she and Curtis walked down the hall, eager to begin. It gave a small squirt of Water Gun at the wall.
"Kip-kip. Mudkip."
"Mudkip, would you please calm down?" Mudskipper glanced down, and then back at Curtis. "Good luck; may the better person win," she said as they walked onto the arena and took their places. Her stomach gave a jolt of nervous energy, but maybe that was Mudkip. She took a deep breath and readied herself for the battle.

 

[Finn]

((forgot to mention this earlyer but Muddskipper your in arena #2 and i am in #1. it shouldn't really matter though.))

"Thanks" Finn said. He then returned Cacturne and walked towards the entrance of Arena #1. He told the woman at the desk his name, and walked in. He was Then escorted to the stage, where he was told to select three pokemon to use for battle. He chose Joe, Mismagius, and Magmortar, and then waited for his opponent to arrive. The arena was larger then he had imagined, and it looked like it could easily seat all of Hearthome. The back of the stage wall was covered in a thin, calm, waterfall, and the roof was open, letting in the sunlight and warm air. Finn breathed in a deep breath of air and said, "Perfect day for a Battle."

 

[Belle]

[size=8pt]ooc| You said you wanted me to be Rachel for you, right? c:

Taking refuge in the enclosed space, Belle turned to adjust the monitor the staff had kindly placed in every room for people to observe battles. She had just started to adjust the ruffled gold bow on the hip of her dress when she saw Finn making his way onstage. She hadn't seen Mudskipper make an appearance yet, but she kept her attention more on the screen than her dress. As a result, she found that Rusty had ambled over to help tie the ribbon she had repeatedly mis-shaped. A smile, and she gathered her discarded clothes and folded them neatly on the counter, glancing back and forth between the two points of focus as Finn's opponent made her way on stage..



It was a nice day.
Sunny, warm, and the atmosphere of the stadium was enthusiastic and giddy. And that alone usually made for entertaining battles.
The red-head smiled as she followed her guide to the opposite side of arena one, her fingers running over the polished surface of the three pokeballs at her belt. Rapidash, Wooper and Girafarig had been the three pokemon she decided to keep on her person, and were now safely tucked away beneath the white vest she had slipped on that morning. Pausing for a moment to lavish in the sunlight, she set her gaze on her opponent, who- even though he was a reasonable distance away, she could tell was probably fairly taller than her. The thought made her cheeks flush as bright as her hair. She had never been incredibly tall, always giving her a meek appearance. But she had a tendancy to surprise people, being tougher than the girl they had first seen. She didn't always win, but she id put up a good battle.[/size]

 

[Kyupper]

(OOC: Wait, waaaait. I'm confused. Are James and Rachel really Belle and Curtis, or are they different people altogether? Because if they're different people, that means what Curtkid and I posted makes no sense... ???)

 

[Belle]

[size=8pt]ooc| Curtkid and I were originally supposed to be roleplaying two filler characters for you and Finn to defeat in the first round, but it's okay, you and Curtkid can battle and I'll use a filler character for Finn to battle c:[/size]

 

[Kyupper]

(OOC: Thanks Belle. I get it now.)

 

[Finn]

Finn watched as his opponent made her way onstage. She was pretty and sported deep red hair, but Finn wondered if there were any battle skills beneath those bouncing red curls.

Then from the intercom came the voice: Trainers! Please send out your first pokemon!

"Alright!" Finn shouted, "Lets do this Joe!" The cacturne came out of the pokeball in a flash of light. Instead of bellowing as it had done earlier, it stomped its foot down and shot a series of needles into the air, as if to intimidate the opposing trainer.

 

[Belle]

[size=8pt]Rachel watched with a smile as Finn released his first pokemon.
"I suppose I should use the obvious choice. Let's go then, Rapidash."
As she spoke she pulled the first of the three balls she had from her belt, flinging it into the center of the arena as one does.
The capsule around the ball was the first to burst open, adding a cloud of white smoke to the pokemon's entrance that brought an echoing call of admiration from the crowd.
The red beam of light began to materialize in the midst of the billowing matter, but it only began to fade away when a set of dainty hooves touched down on the ground. In a sudden movement, the white fog seemed to snake away, as if banished by a gust of wind that was not felt by anyone else.
The firey horse pokemon stood patiently, pale red eyes gleaming enthusiastically.

"You can go first. I insist."[/size]

 

[Finn]

"If you insist, then I have no choice!" Finn yelled enthusiastically. "Joe! Whip up a sandstorm and then follow up with a Sucker punch attack!" The cacturne planted both feet firmly on the ground, and put its arms above its head. Immediately, a massive sandstorm engulfed the stage. Then, the cacturne leaped through the swirling sand at the rapidash, arm pulled back and ready to deliver its first blow.

 

[Belle]

[size=8pt]Watching as a cloud of sand began to develop, Rachel could feel the firey pokemon assessing the situation.
"Good move.. Rapidash, use fire spin- close proximity."

Giving a whinny of confirmation, the pokemon rose onto it's hind legs and lashed out as a stream of fire began to wind its way around the horse pokemon itself, creating a shield of sorts and a wind in its wake that banished the sand from getting too close to it. It wasn't enough to stop the cacturne's blow, and the pokemon slid back a few feet before regaining it's stance and maintaining the blaze.

From the comfort of the change room, Belle watched the battle start with a smile. They were off to a great start- and that girl's rapidash was quick. Cacturne would need something to extinguish the flame before it could get very close, and it may very well have sustained a bit of damage from contacting the pokemon in the first place. But for the moment, the sandstorm surrounding them was too dense to tell.[/size]

 

[Finn]

((OOC: just so we're clear, pokemon are not limited to four moves only, thats one concept of the games i hate))

'Damn it...' Finn thought, 'Joe wont be able to use very many moves until that fire spin lets up.... unless...' "Joe!" Fin called excitedly, "Use needle cannon and don't stop!" Needle cannon was a move Finn and Joe had invented together, and it was one of the many things that made them so close. The cacturne, hearing the order, nodded and braced itself. It then held its right arm out in front of itself, aiming straight at the tornado of fire that engulfed the rapidash. Then a series of rapidly firing needles burst from the cacturnes arm. Finn watched, praying the needles would reach through the other side.

 

[Belle]

[size=8pt]ooc| Agreed. But I guess Nintendo had to cut them off somewhere- as much as we hate it, the four-move limit is what makes the game a bit more challenging c:

Rachel could feel her teeth digging into her lip- a nervous habit of hers no doubt.

Most of the needles were incinerated by the column of fire, but there were the occasional few that got through and hit hard enough to make the pokemon prance uneasily within it's container.
"Rapidash.. Rapidash, keep that fire burning, and use bounce! If you miss, get yourself up in the air again."

Taking a moment to collect itself, the pokemon straightened up and crouched down for a moment, pausing..
Before launching itself into the air with such force that the muscles in it's legs rippled beneath it's pearly coat. Gaining height with every passing moment, it began it's descent onto the site where Finn's cacturne was standing.
[/size]

 

[Finn]

Finn watched in horror as the rapidash made its powerful decent. "Joe watch out!" He yelled this franticly, but it was too late. The rapidash's front hooves smashed into the cacturne, which went flying. 'Oh crap!' Finn thought. Though he knew it wasn't the ending blow, it had done some serious damage. The cacturne got up heaving. "Joe!" Finn called, ready to give another order, "Use payback! Combine it with sucker punch!" The cacturne nodded, and, using its last bits of energy, lunged at the rapidash as it had done before when using sucker punch, but this time, with more speed. 'This will have to be it,' Finn thought, 'if this doesn't end it then cacturne is gone.'

 

[Belle]

[size=8pt]The cacturne was too close to miss. Or for Rachel's Rapidash to try and move out of the way.

So the punch hit home, sending the firey pokemon flying back to it's end of the field and drawing a muffled cry from it's trainer. Wanting to run to it's side and take its tired head into her lap, her heart sank as the pokemon slid on it's side closer and closer to her end of the field.
"Rapidash! Oh, no.. Retu- Nngh?"
Her words cut off as the creature pulled itself meekly onto its feet, stumbling for a moment before regaining its stance. The girl gave a weak laugh as it made an effort to keep itself standing, and held out the pokeball anyway.
"Return."
The red stream of light reached out to the pokemon, enveloping it's body before the shape collapsed and streamed back into the metal container.
"You did great Rapidash. But There are some times when you need t stop pushing yourself so hard."

Turning back to Finn, Rachel gave a genuine smile.
"You're really good at working in tight spots. I admire that."
Pulling a second pokeball from her belt, she threw it into the center of the arena much like she had for her Rapidash.
This time, a stream of blue stars created a curtain for the red beam as it began to take shape.
Again, the sheet of stars kept it's place until the pokemon's tiny blue feet touched on the ground. As soon as it hit the ground, the blue shield evaporated, giving way to a wide-smiled wooper who, upon it's entry, gave a little jump and a happy cry. [/size]

 

[Finn]

"Thanks!" Finn called back to Rachel, "You're good at that, uhhh... entrance thing." He directed his attention at the wooper, who was bouncing about before him on the stage about before him. Cacturne was pretty tired, but then again, wooper was part water type, so a couple of well placed grass moves and a giga drain would probably do the trick. Finn decided to risk it. "You can take the first move on this one!" Finn called to Rachel.

 

[Belle]

[size=8pt]A laugh bubbled up from the girl, and she nodded.
"Yeah, thanks. And I will, but don't say I didn't warn you. Even though I didn't, not really."
A grin, and she took a step forward.
It was a subtle movement, but in doing so she seemed to command attention as she grinned at the little blue pokemon.
"Wooper- Earthquake."
Her words were soft but her eyes gleamed with a wicked look- She had put days into breeding this particular pokemon, following careful instructions from her sister. The pokemon was small, but it could certainly pack a punch.


Having moved to a chair to make adjustment to her hair, but still seated in front of the monitor itself, Belle watched with a certain.. Respect.
Her brother had taught her about specialised breeding, and the rewards it could reap when done correctly.
This girl must have been tutored by someone who certainly knew what they were doing.[/size]