-- Tree! [Ito/open]

[riley]

Apparently, Pokémon Centers offered a hotel service completely free of charge, which was fortunate because the little remaining money in Riley's pocket had been spent on a brand-spanking-new backpack to carry his items in. Riley wondered vaguely if there was some kind of terrible underlying catch to the Centers' generosity, but the pink-haired nurse and her pudgy pink assistant seemed nice enough, and besides, he finally got a chance to shower.

Now in a considerably better mood, Riley decided to relax for a bit in the forest next to the town he was staying in, and naturally dragged his starter along to avoid a repeat of that morning's Taillow-mobbing disaster. He didn't go actively searching for wild Pokémon or trainers to battle; no, lazy Riley was fully intent on plopping down in the flickering shadow of a tree, watching other people run around under the scorching glare of the afternoon sun and waiting for something to come to him.

"Hot day, innit Nom?" he said breezily to his new Numel, who was lying in the grass beside him and looking fast asleep.

Nom didn't move.

"You don't mind if I call you Nom, right?"

Nothing.

"Even though you're a girl?" It had taken Riley nearly two hours, much inferring, and an embarassing confirmation from a passerby breeder to figure that out. At least the seemingly dim-witted Numel had her own gender straight; she never responded to her trainer when he referred to her as "boy" or "guy."

Nom slowly opened one eye and stared, as if to say, "What's wrong with that?" and Riley shrugged. "Dunno, Nom just seems like a guy name to me. Though I guess it's not really a name, more like a sound, like 'om nom nom' when you're eating or something... hey, am I that boring to listen to?" he demanded loudly in mock annoyance as the Numel shut her eye again, clearly intent on returning to her sleep. Riley stuck out his tongue at her and flopped over onto his back, lying spread-eagled in the grass beside his Pokémon and conspicuously taking up quite a bit of space. "Man, you're a such a terrible conversationalist."

[ito]

Stormcloud City. On the map, it was the closest place from the Lab and it seemed like a good place to start out at. It was amazing what a map could do to give him a sense of direction! Earlier, he had been wandering about aimlessly, trying to figure out where he was in proportion to the Lab, now he found his way all the way to Sakura Forest. Of course, Torchic didn't really like walking all that distance and started complaining.

"You should get used to walking long distances now, you'll have to get in better physical shape sooner or later, so this can be our first step!" Ito had said. Wrong move. This ended in an angry fire bird chasing him with talons ready to take him out! He apologized profusly as he ran away, but it was only when he got the idea to put it inside the pokeball he was allowed any time to rest. After all that, the small pokemon still got its way. Not only was it proud, spunky, but it was also really smart. What a deadly combination for the one trying to raise it...

It was slow going, wandering through the pink leaved forest. The Sakura Blossoms in full bloom at this time of year. It was beautiful. After calling out Torchic again, the pokemon seemed to have cooled off at the sight. It was still kinda mad at him, but for the most part, he was forgiven.

"You know what Torchic? I've never had a pokemon before..." He stated, "But, I'm sorta glad I chose you. You'll keep me in line as a trainer, and I'll have the challenge of working with you."

The bird looked up at him, confused whether to be mad or happy at the statement. After a moment of debating, it seemed to decide it wasn't worth the trouble getting mad at him. The pair walked slowly through the forest for some time before hearing a voice. There not being many people in the forest, Ito looked down to Torchic.

"Wanna check it out?"

The small bird let out a 'Tor-Chic!' with two nods of its head. Walking cautiously, the pair drew closer to the voice which seemed to be having a bit of trouble of its own. Of course, it was more like it was arguing with itself, wondering why it wasn't very good conversation. The first thing popping into his mind was this guy was a looney. But upon seeing a guy talking to a pokemon, he just decided he wasn't very good at making friends with... ehhh... whatever that pokemon was.

Torchic stood up straighter at the sight of another pokemon, puffing out its chest a bit as the cute little bird tried to look as intimidating as it could. Ito couldn't help but smirk as the small, kid like pokemon completely failed in doing so. In fact, it probably only made it seem even cuter! Looking back up at the guy, Ito stepped closer to him.

"Hey, don't see many people in this forest. Seems like everyone's in town." Ito observed, asking what this guy was doing here subliminally.

[riley]

(ooc: At this point in my day, the looney comment is the most hilarious thing ever to me. I have no idea why. xD)

It took Riley a few seconds to realise that somebody was talking to him. With a visible effort, he heaved himself back up into a sitting position and yawned, flicking a few stray strands of hair away from his eyes. "Whuzzat?" he asked stupidly, blinking up at the newcomer towering above him. "Oh, yeah. Town's pretty crowded today. Nothing to do and nobody to bother 'round here, which kinda sucks." Tossing a quick glance over at Nom, he added with a smile, "But I s'pose it's a nice place to have a nap. You know, just relaxing and not doing anything for once." Or twice. Or for the umpteenth time in Riley's lazy life, but this stranger didn't need to know that.

Hmph. Nap, my foot, the Numel thought grumpily with an inward scowl, mirroring her trainer's yawn and opening her eyes to glare at the three distractions talking around her. Her gaze immediately fell on the orange fluffball that was standing in front of her and... doing something? Making itself look fluffier? She wasn't quite sure exactly what it was trying to accomplish. "Are you trying to look cute or what?" she demanded in a slow mumble. There was no point beating around the bush; Nom was a very blunt creature.

Now that Nom seemed to be preoccupied with something that was neither sleeping nor her trainer, Riley turned his attention back to the stranger. "So yeah, I'm Riley. Who're you?" No hand offered to shake or anything, just a brief introduction and a question coupled with a bland, puzzled stare.

[ito]

"Whuzzat?"

With obvious strain, the guy tried to sit up. It seemed like all his energy left him and he was completely out of it... in the middle of the day. Ito had never had the time to just sit around and do nothing before... always having been helping his father with work around the daycare or doing chores around the house. It was strange to think there were people who found the time to just not do anything and relax.

"Oh, yeah. Town's pretty crowded today. Nothing to do and nobody to bother 'round here, which kinda sucks." The guy seemed disappointed in that there wasn't anyone to bother out here. "But I s'pose it's a nice place to have a nap. You know, just relaxing and not doing anything for once." Well, it was hard to complain. Ito didn't know the guy and he could do whatever with the time he was given. Ito nodded, not really giving the guy's pokemon much heed. It seemed to rather like being left alone.

Of course, Torchic, chest puffed and head held high strutted up to the pokemon with his beak in the air as he approached. He thought he was the coolest thing since Antarctica! He was as flaming hot as 1,000,000 suns and was as scary as Aunt Maggie's beard. "Are you trying to look cute or what?" Torchic's world collapsed around him at the simple statement.

Cute?!

CUTE?!!

CUUUUUUUTE?!?!?!!!!

"I'm not cute! I'm intimidating! IN-TIM-A-DATE-ING!" The poor Torchic cried, completely flustered and flapping its wings jumping up and down like it was on fire or something. Of course, all Ito could hear was:

"Tor-chic-chic! Tor-chic! TORTORTORTOR- CHIIIIIIIC!"

Ito was completely surprised at his pokemon's sudden outburst. It seemed like the two pokemon were getting along well already! "So yeah, I'm Riley. Who're you?"

"I am Hajime, Ito." He answered simply. "Ah... sorry for causing all this ruckus. I guess Torchic's a bit worked up about something." He looked down at the small bird who was still ranting about how intimidating he was and how scary he looked when he transformed into his 'Super Awesome Tranformation Mode' which apparently would make him into some sort of a super hero or something.

[riley]

Nom looked remarkably deadpan and hardly batted an eye in sharp contrast to the other Fire-type's complete overreaction, watching with an air of mild bemusement as the Torchic lost his head.

Well, that didn't take very long at all, did it?

"Honey, this isn't some kind of fantasy," she pointed out calmly over the Torchic's screeching protests, her head nodding up and down as she followed his movements. "And honestly," she couldn't help adding with a derisive scoff, "'Super Awesome Tranformation Mode?' Surely you can be a tad more creative than that with your delusions?"

Riley was far more amused with this little banter than Nom, even though as a human he had no clue what the Pokémon were saying. Or shouting, in the Torchic's case. "Haha, no matter. Looks like they're getting along just fine anyway," he commented lightly, ignoring the very dirty look that the displeased Numel shot in his direction.

"So... you say your name's Hajime?" he repeated, unaware of the order that Ito had placed his names in. "Pretty weird name, innit? Sounds Asian or something. But I wouldn't know anything about that, 'cause... well, that's obvious." Riley gave a fleeting gesture towards his blond hair and blue eyes, and then promptly collapsed back onto the grass with his hands behind his head. However, relaxing wasn't quite as easy this time around due to the shrilling of a certain Pokémon going berserk at their feet. "Hey man, you just got this Torchic thing or what? Doesn't look like it'll listen to you much, but couldja tell it to shut up? It's getting annoying."

(WC: 319)

[ito]

[[ awww poor Torchic xD it's totally getting flounced by Nommy ]]

"Honey,"

The single word shut the Torchic up, listening to what the other pokemon had to say.

"This isn't some kind of fantasy and honestly," the pokemon scoffed at him, "'Super Awesome Tranformation Mode?' Surely you can be a tad more creative than that with your delusions?"

Ouch...

The Torchic spun in place once as though it had been slapped and fell to the ground, a river of tears comically streaming down its face as it lay defeated. If it had been a fight, this would have been the shortest two hit victory for the Nomel in Pokemon history. Break out the revive, Torchic feinted by words alone!

Ito couldn't help but wish he knew what they were talking about, the motions very funny, though he saw the Torchic was getting his butt cleaned by the Nomel who hadn't even really moved aside from bobbing her head. "Haha, no matter. Looks like they're getting along just fine anyway!" The guy laughed. Ito couldn't help but agree with a smile of his own.

"So... you say your name's Hajime?" the guy repeated amid the sobbing Torchic, "Pretty weird name, innit? Sounds Asian or something. But I wouldn't know anything about that, 'cause... well, that's obvious." Ito didn't even have to guess that he wasn't of asian descent. Probably should have noticed it and given his first name first, like a normal person. The guy seemed like he was trying to relax again before he glanced over to the sobbing Torchic. "Hey man, you just got this Torchic thing or what? Doesn't look like it'll listen to you much, but couldja tell it to shut up? It's getting annoying."

Ito took in a deep breath and let it out. Already he was showing he was a failure as a trainer... not even able to keep his Torchic in line. "Sorry, Torchic, enough's enough for now." He said, taking out the pokeball and returning it in a thin stream light. The form of Torchic condenced before returning into the ball. "Hajime's my last name. It's customary to introduce oneself last name first, then first name." Ito explained. "So, my name's Ito. But I guess you could call me Hajime-sama if you wanted." He shrugged. Of course, it would be san instead of sama... but this guy didn't know that! Besides, Ito could always use a bit more ego!

[riley]

(ooc: Haha yeah, Nom is a big meanie. 83
Also, I lol'd at the Hajime-sama thing. xD)

"Oh, how dramatic." Nom couldn't help but note that the Torchic's exaggerated fall was not unlike Riley's just moments before. Except without the casualness. And plus a ridiculously unnecessary bucketful of tears. "How old are you anyway?" It wasn't a rhetorical question; Nom really did want to know. "The most I'm guessing is maybe a hatchling, because it would say a lot more about your maturity level if you could, oh I don't know, actually act your age." She practically spat out those last four words, her voice laced with a contempt for the juvenile creature that was audible even to humans. Hopefully, her thick-headed trainer would get the idea that she did not enjoy the Torchic's company in the least.

Riley wasn't stupid. Well... maybe sometimes he was, but at the moment he could definitely tell that Nom and Torchic weren't getting along quite as well as he had initially assumed. He wasn't going to bother doing anything about it though; it was kind of funny to watch Hajime's Torchic bawling theatrically on the ground like a truly seasoned drama queen.

The spectacle didn't last long however, because a rather embarassed-looking Hajime quickly returned his Torchic into its ball, and then promptly explained that Riley had been calling him by the wrong name the entire time. Oops.

"Haha, sorry about that Ito," he chuckled without a trace of sheepishness; it had to take a lot more than that to get Riley sincerely embarassed about something. "Or, Hajime-sama... sama? Eh, that name's too long. Can I just call you Ito or something shorter? Ito-sama? Whatever. Man, are you hungry? Is it time for lunch yet? Oh wait, shit, I don't have any more money. I wonder if the nice nurse lady at the Center'll give me food. But then again, it might be like one of those cheap instant noodle cups, and those don't taste good at all. Bad for you too. Waaay too much MSG." He didn't even notice himself rambling once he got onto the topic of food, but it seemed that even with his parents' frustrating favouritism and overbearingness, the years of restaurant training they had instilled in him in his childhood would never truly leave him.

For the most part, Nom was relieved when the familiar red light of a Pokéball finally got rid of the chicken-shaped nightmare, but a tiny part of her mind felt disappointed that she never found out exactly how immature he was acting. Ah well, what's done is done, and there was no point brooding on it any further. Maybe now she could really get back to sleep.

(WC: 498)

[ito]

"Haha, sorry about that Ito," The guy chuckled, not really sounding sorry, but Ito guessed what he meant. "Or, Hajime-sama... sama?" It took all Ito had not to break out with a huge grin at that. No one had addressed him as -sama before and it was doing wonders for his confidence level! "Eh, that name's too long. Can I just call you Ito or something shorter? Ito-sama?" Ito blinked. Ito-sama was really longer than just Ito... and he wasn't sure how one could make Ito shorter unless you just called him 'E'... and that wouldn't really make much sense. "Whatever. Man, are you hungry? Is it time for lunch yet?" It was only then Ito realized how fast this guy was talking. Ito didn't have so much time to realize this before he moved onto his next subject in the beat of a heart. "Oh wait, shit, I don't have any more money. I wonder if the nice nurse lady at the Center'll give me food. But then again, it might be like one of those cheap instant noodle cups, and those don't taste good at all. Bad for you too. Waaay too much MSG." Ito didn't even know what MSG was, all he knew was that he had to interject some time and now seemed like a good opportunity before he started getting into another rant.

"I can pay. I have money from working on my Dad's Pokemon Daycare. Though..." Ito smirked, kinda curious. He didn't know how well Torchic would do after just getting depressed talking to the Nomel... but maybe a battle would be what they needed to finally get along? "I don't suppose you've got energy for a match? Just one pokemon apiece, no switching." Ito lay down the rules. "If you win, I'll treat you to some resteraunt food. But If I win... hmm... I guess you'll have to make do with the instant noodles from the Poke Center." Ito smirked, dangling the carrot and prodding with the stick.

"Of course, we could just go to the Poke Center now and see what's on the menu." Ito shrugged, he was a little hungry himself but he could hold it off until after the match. Besides, he needed to prepare to face the gym leader. It would be tough and he needed Torchic to learn how to fight before then.

"So, Riley, what'll it be?"

[riley]

(ooc: Apologies if this comes across as rude, but could you please try to keep the quoting to a minimum? I already know I wrote, I want to read what you wrote, if you don't mind. ^^)

Match...? Oh, a battle! Right, Pokémon could battle, and that's kind of what being a trainer was all about! Riley suddenly remembered that tiny yet hugely relevant fact, but decided not to vocalise this sudden revelation; it was an unnecessary detail.

It seemed that Ito knew a lot more about Pokémon than he did, especially since he mentioned that he worked at a daycare (was a Pokémon daycare a place where people raised baby Pokémon? He made a mental note to ask Ito about that later), but hey, Riley had to start his battling career somewhere, even if he would probably suck really badly.

And besides, if by some miracle he won, he would get gloating rights and a free meal. That alone was enough to motivate him to get to his feet and return Ito's smirk with one of his own. "Deal. Only have one Pokémon anyway," he said, putting his hands behind his head again and nudging his Numel's stomach with the toe of his shoe, "but hey, we'll take whatever you can throw at us. C'mon, ye great lump, sleepy time's over. Time to battle now."

Nom rolled her eyes at her trainer's blatant rudeness. "Hmph. And what if this 'great lump' doesn't want to, hm?" she retorted icily, but slowly stood up to face their opponent nonetheless. "And by the way... if this boy happens to 'throw' that ridiculous chicken at us again, I absolutely refuse to take his crap for a second time. Just a warning, honey."

And with that, she turned back and waited for her adversary to be sent out, whatever it was going to be.

(WC: 311 | EXP: 311)

[ito]

[[ Sorry, I was sorta on a roll with this one! And I'll only respond to your posts. I got in the habit of doing that so that I responded to everything... sometimes I forget where I am in a post and I have reactions to what is said, so I put it in there to keep myself honest ]]

Ito's smile grew a bit larger as the other trainer agreed. Well, it wasn't going to be his first battle, but it would definatly show him what his pokemon could do. It was also a chance to smooth out some rough spots and see what experience it had in fighting. Pressing the button on his pokeball, the red light burst from the open container onto the ground... to show a partially recollected Torchic, tears still in its eyes as it looked at the ground. Bending over, Ito reached out a hand and placed it on the pokemon's small head.

"You doing better?" He asked to no response. "I've got a little treat for you. You know that mean Numel that was picking on you? You have a chance to get even now!" He spoke to the small bird who looked up, interested in what he had to say.

"Tor?" It asked, confused at what he was talking about.

"A battle." He explained. As he spoke, the small bird jumped a bit at the second word and looked over at the Numel, definatly uncomfortable and ran behind Ito.

"Torchic! Tor-tor-chiii~iii~ic!"

Well... he was somewhat afraid this might be the case. It'd never battled before. In fact, it was probably new out of the egg not so long ago. They all tended to be somewhat hot-headed and males were typically proud. However, the pride was to hide just how afraid they were of new things, though curiosity typically out weighed the fear. This time, it didn't take a breeder to see it didn't like the idea of battling.

"So, that's it. You've never fought before and you're just going to allow Numel to walk all over you?" He asked to small bird. The Torchic looked up at him a little irritatedly at what it percieved to be an insult. "Look. Are you going to let Numel win without even fighting back, or are you going to show me that you have the courage and fortitude to win?" Ito asked, no longer treating it like the kid he had before. "I'm not going to make you fight, but if you turn back now, you'll live with the guilt of not having stood up for yourself for the rest of your life. Living with your cowardice."

The last word hit the Torchic like a brick and Ito saw it in the bird's eyes. Coward? Him?! Never! With a burning passion, the chick stepped from behind his trainer and looked over at the Numel, its moping gone like a bad dream, leaving only the will to fight... if that's all it was. Ito closed his eyes and nodded once, taking a deep breath in. This was going to take a bit of work, but at least it had the courage to do it to begin with. He'd not been wrong in his choice!

"ALRIGHT!" He yelled, a commanding tone in his voice, far different than the way he had been talking a moment before. It could have been possible he was taking this a bit too far, but like pokemon like trainer! "Torchic! Since this is presumably your first battle, I'll fill you in on the basics. The Numel is your opponent, yes, but you need to treat your opponent with respect!"

The tiny bird looked back with a blink, question on its face like it didn't understand.

"The reason is, you'll never underestimate someone you respect! You will always fight with all you have, and you won't budge an inch!" He didn't care that he was also talking loud enough for the other two to hear, it was something his dad had taught him long ago. "You must treat your opponent with respect no matter how your opponent treats you! This is your first lesson!" Ito stated, the sudden jump in confidence being sensed by the fire-type as though it was feeding off its trainer for strength.

"Show me your power! Scratch Numel!" Ito cheered, pointing toward the yellow, four legged pokemon. It was a simple attack, but he needed to strike first before Torchic's confidence fell again. This fight was less about the pokemon and more about keeping Torchic in the game. Whether they won or lost, if Torchic remained fighting 'till the very end, it would be a huge improvment and would raise the pokemon's confidence in itself significantly.

The small, red and yellow hued bird ran forward. Though he had been given a pep talk, and even though he didn't really like his opponent that much... he was still extremely scared! Would it hurt? How would he feel after hurting the pokemon? Why did people make them fight to begin with? He didn't really want to fight... or so he thought... its anxiety building as it neared its opponent, almost shaking as it was a meter from it. Jumping into the air, it closed its eyes as it would attempt to rake its talons on its opponent.

* * * * * * * * * *

WC || 900
Exp || 900

[riley]

(ooc: I think I did the same with this one. xD;; Oh well, long post = long response, I suppose.)

Speak of the devil. "Oh lordy lordy lord, please no," Nom groaned, staring at the Torchic with an expression of great dislike on her simple features. "And this is why you should not tempt fate... all the more reason to have it work against you."

Riley raised his eyebrows and he couldn't help but laugh a little as Ito gave his frightened Torchic a pep talk, trying to convince it to step forward and battle the very Pokémon that had reduced it to tears. "Geez Nom, so that's what you were doing, picking on the poor kid?" he scolded down at his Numel when he overheard Ito's first words, sounding remarkably like a mother reprimanding a misbehaving child. (A bit rich of him, Nom thought disdainfully.) "C'mon, what'd daddy say about playing nice with the other kiddies?"

"As a matter of fact, you did not say anything, dear," Nom snapped back in a manner that clearly suggested she did not consider Riley dear to her in any way at the moment. "And keep quiet, I'd much rather deal with this... thing by myself, thank you very much."

"Now now, you don't use that tone of voice with your daddy," Riley chided, bending over to be more at level with his Pokémon; his amused blue eyes met her irritated beady ones. "Y'know, I think I really ought to take a leaf outta Ito-sama's book. Give you a nice long lecture so we can get along, yes?"

"No."

He took that as a yes. "Haha, okay then," he said happily, straightening back up and paying no attention to Nom's surly glowering. "Later though. Maybe tonight. Alright!" he echoed immediately after Ito yelled the same word, but then the phrase "first battle" caught his attention and he kept quiet to listen as the other boy explained to Torchic about... proper battle etiquette? Or something like that. "Hey, y'hear that, Nom? He said to-"

"Respect the opponent, I have ears, honey," she interrupted coldly, bracing herself as the Torchic barrelled towards her with talons outstretched. But then Riley surprised her by calling out, "Wait wait wait - turn around! Let it scratch your back!"

What?

Nom's first thought was, A backscratch at a time like this? Even his stupidity must have a limit? and she was extremely tempted to disobey. However, when she threw a quick scathing glance back at her trainer, she saw that he was holding a very familiar sky-blue device in his hand and had a vaguely thoughtful expression on his face. His Pokédex? But how could that -

"Its humped back stores intensely hot magma."

It was the same information that the dex had thrown up the very first time Riley received it - Nom remembered that moment, she was still outside of her Pokéball at the time - but now... it didn't seem so irrelevant. It was actually a decent idea; the scratching would be still painful, but then there was a chance that the Torchic might get a talonful of boiling heat in return.

Okay, so maybe Riley wasn't quite as dumb as he seemed to be.

The Numel attempted to lug herself sideways, but the tactic only partially succeeded; she wasn't nearly fast enough to put her entire backside into the Torchic's path in time, and one of his talons still raked at her sensitive neck, causing her to yelp out in pain. The magma in her hump bubbled and seethed angrily at being disturbed with the chick Pokémon's other talon, producing a rather uncomfortable nauseous sensation in Nom's stomach, and she made a mental note to aim for the Torchic if she happened to throw up.

(WC: 701 | EXP: 1012)

[ito]

Ito was impressed. He hadn't thought Torchic would do so well on his fight battle. Of course, he'd have to open his eyes... But overall, it was doing rather well! Ito was tempted to yell for Torchic to watch out as the Numel tried to turn so Torchic's foot would fall into the volcano-like hump on its back, but it would have been a good lesson for Torchic to learn. The small pokemon's feet scratched at its opponent a bit before losing confidence and running away from its opponent all the way back to Ito with small cheeps as it ran. It tripped halfway back and looked like it was about to cry as it got up and reached its destination.

"Great job Torchic! You're really brave!" Ito smiled as he put a hand on its head, ruffling its feathers. The small pokemon looked at him a moment before shaking its head and standing up straight, puffing out its chest with a "Tor-chic!" as if to say 'of course'! Ito's smile fell a bit as he shook his head at the over confident bird... or rather, the under confident over compensating bird.

"But bravery can be a curse if it's not intelligent." He explained. "You have to be smart in your approach, you can't just run up to it and expect it to just stand there for you like it did this time. You may not have noticed, but your foot came dangerously close to entering its hump." He warned. The Torchic frowned and tilted its head.

"There's lava in its hump."

The Torchic's eyes widened and looked back to its opponent with a short "Tor!"

"Torchic, this time, I want you to think before striking... and I want you to keep your eyes open for me!" Ito said, retracting his hand and standing up again. The Torchic seemed to have calmed down a bit. In fact, it looked like it was sorta getting into it!

"We're gonna try something a bit different. This is called a combination attack. I want you to growl while building up energy to your foot. This may be a bit difficult, but I know you'll get that hang of it!" Ito cheered, but the small Torchic felt an enormous load of responsibility on its shoulders. Taking in a breath, it let out a less than convincing growl. However, Ito could see its feet glowing a bit as the energy built up in its legs. This time, being around ten meters from Numel, they would probably be out of reach from its tackle thanks to Torchic's low confidence level... however, there was no telling what other attacks it knew. Better just let Torchic learn the hard way. After all, it'd learned about respect, courage, physical attacks, debuffs, and buffs. All it really needed was to learn how to move well and to keep its eyes on the opponent, no matter how scary it looked. Ito couldn't help but think that would be the hardest job.

* * * * * * * * * *

WC || 540
Exp || 900 + 540 = 1,440

[riley]

The scratching thankfully didn't last as long as Nom expected, for the Torchic seemed to have lost its courage halfway though and scurried back to the safety of his trainer and out of the Numel's attacking range.

But the damage was done, and the thin pink lines on her skin where the talons had struck were beginning to throb unpleasantly.

"Hmm... but it says here that Numel are really dumb - oh wait, no, 'dim-witted' - so they don't notice being hit. But..." Riley glanced up from the Pokédex entry browser to Nom standing in front of him, her head bowed and looking as though she was in a great deal of pain. "Guess being 'hit' and being scratched up to death are way different, eh?"

"Damn right," Nom grunted, her gaze flickering upward to glare at the Torchic and his trainer. The good thing about the chicken being such a wuss was that the trainer had to spell out every plan to him, and cheered it loudly enough to be audible even from their adversary's distance. At least now Nom would know what to expect.

The growl was laughably weak-spirited, but she couldn't help but worry when she saw the Torchic building up energy in his foot. She could tell that the next scratch attack was going to be a lot more painful - and a lot less hesitant now that the trainer seemed to have given his Pokémon more confidence. Just great.

"Hey Nom! Uhh... Tackle?"

Riley's sudden command both startled her and irritated her. How could he expect a slow, lumbering Numel to run over there in time and get an attack in before they could react? That would be practically suicide. "It's called strategy, you dimwit," came her snappy reply, and she did not budge a centimeter.

"Man, you're pretty hostile, aren't you?" he commented, folding his arms and looking oddly impressed rather than frustrated, as she would expect him to be by now. "Okaaay, since you obviously don't like that, let's try something else. Um... how 'bout Growl? Think that's what Torchic is doing way over there. I'm not really sure, but whatever, just do it right back at 'em."

That course of action had never occurred to Nom, and to think that her trainer was smarter and more perceptive than her (or maybe just plain lucky) irked her to no end. Maybe he wasn't stupid per se, just unwilling to do anything except be a really large pain in the ass.

Nom turned her head back to face the Torchic and let out a far more impressive growl than the one the chicken did just seconds before. She vented out all her feelings of aggravation and impatience in this one attack, and it came out sounding more like a roar than anything. "Two can play at that game!" she called out viciously, and then tacked on a vulgar swear word at the end just to emphasise her rage.

(WC: 540 | EXP: 1552)

[ito]

The energy in Torchic's legs stabilized just as the Numel let out a growl that sent Torchic jumping back to land on its butt on the ground, totally taken in by the sucker punch Nomel dished out at him. The little pokemon looked about ready to cry, but it held its tears back, embarassment tugging at it, causing it to stand up again, kinda flustered. Perhaps it was a miricle, but the energy was still in its legs. The Torchic really did have potential. To be that flustered and still hold onto the attack? Even though it hadn't been able to let out a good growl, it had done surprisingly well at focusing on two attacks at once. Ito had expected the Numel to do something like that, or some sort of ranged attack for that matter, but the spirit behind the Numel's growl left Torchic crying in the dust, just like before. If this kept up, he wasn't really sure who'd win. Of course, it was obvious that Torchic had really been its own worst enemy, tripping over itself and shattering its own confidence. The pokemon had been getting lucky his opponent was slow. But even being slow, its hide was thicker than Torchic's. Well... there was really only one thing to be done at this stage in the fight.

"Alright Torchic! Hang in there! I want you to get close to Numel And scratch it!" He commanded. It was kinda silly that he had to yell out all the moves, and he understood that... but Torchic wasn't confident in itself enough for him to not have to do that. "Don't just scratch willy-nilly, though, I want you to think! You have a brain, so use it!" The Torchic scowled as it looked at the pokemon before it that towered over him. It was bigger, tougher, could probably take more hits... and the small pokemon only saw the size. How was it supposed to beat something bigger than itself? It looked back to Ito who only shrugged, not giving any more advice or commands. He knew it was tough on the small pokemon and might spell out defeat, but it had to start thinking on its own now or it would always come to depend on him completely.

The Torchic almost audibly gulped before charging forward with a high pitched "chiiiiiiiiiiiiii~" Ito watched intently as the small pokemon charged forward. It was a stright forward attack by the look of it so far... The small pokemon suddenly fell backward as it was a quarter of a meter away from the Numel, the force of the run carrying it forward on its back to the Numel, its feet waving rapidly as if it were trying to run away, yet couldn't since it was on its back. The feet would scratch the Numel time and time again as it helplessly flailed on the gorund, the built up energy coming out of the legs as its attack aimed for the front of the throat down to the tummy area.

Ito's eyebrows raised at the brilliant feint. Before, it had jumped up to scratch its opponent, this time it attacked from down low! The small pokemon was able to adapt well! Ito's smile told that he thought he had made the right choice. An intelligent, smart pokemon!

Of course, what Ito didn't know was that it fell back out of terror and its waving legs were really it trying to stop before it reached the Numel. Seeing the towering form above it, what choice did it have but to flail its legs all over the place, hoping that it would do enough damage?

"Great job Torchic! Way to change it up!" Ito yelled, proud of his adaptablility!

* * * * * * * * * *

WC || 646
EXP || 646 + 1,440 = 2,086

[riley]

Both trainer and Numel were rather impressed with the Torchic's apparent strategy, though for the latter it was more like a disgusted kind of impressed. "Ooh, that's actually pretty smart," Riley said lightly, tilting his head sideways as he observed the battle. "Good for you, little bird."

"WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON ANYWAY?" Nom bellowed, rearing up like a horse in a desperate attempt to avoid the Torchic's talons again.

By this point, Riley was fairly used to Nom yelling at him and ignored that part. "Hey Nom, whatcha doin'? Won't going up like that just make it hurt even more? Unless you're planning to do something else."

"Why thank you for that delayed bit of input," Nom said acidly, for she too had realised that rising up on her stubby hind legs did not help matters; if anything, it gave the Torchic an even easier way to scratch her vulnerable stomach. Her two front legs plummeted back down, however, the bottom of the Numel's right foot did not meet the firm ground like she had expected, but rather a lumpy, stick-like appendage - Nom had accidentally squashed one of the Torchic's tiny flailing legs.

"Oh ouch, that's gotta hurt a whole lot," Riley said with raised eyebrows as his Numel backed away a few steps in surprise. "Hey Nom, be careful, wouldja? I know you're pretty pissed off, but geez, don't kill the poor thing!"

"Shut - up!" However the Torchic would react to its limb being stepped on by such a comparatively heavy creature, Nom was definitely not looking forward to it. A few tiny flames formed in her mouth in preparation for an Ember to ward off another overreaction, but the Torchic's talons had done their job well, and Nom couldn't pull off the attack; all she could do was stand motionless near the other Fire-type, trying not to collapse from the throbbing pain around her neck and stomach.

(WC: 365 | EXP: 1917)