I Bite... Hard (Battle: Melodia)

[Kasia Stark]

Kasia dreamily flicked her hair back behind her ears, staring off into space. She was lying on her stomach in the warm, morning sun. Pepay stretched out at her side, Petunia sat a bit far away, mutinously sinking her claws into the turf of the plains. Still, even the bad-tempered Purrloin had to admit: The sunshine was nice on her dark fur.

She murmured something under her breath, as she slowly ran her fingers through the dusty soil. After a long moment, she sat up, yawned, and stretched. "We came out here to train, not to sleep." Her Stunky rolled over and groaned, not wanting to get up, and Petunia hissed angrily, "Come on! Why should we have to listen to this bitch? Let's go bask in some more sun and play and hunt! Like we need her anyways!"

"Now, now, Petunia..." she said sternly. "After we've had some training then we'll rest for the remainder of the day, how's that sound?" The Purrloin simply glared at her, and in turn received a glare back. Finally, Petunia looked away in submission, muttering, "Whatever." The Stunky looked at her, surprised, and said, "Mon belle femme, I zink zat you 'ave lost your fire." Kasia looked away, trying to find inspiration for today's training session..

[Melody Taylors]

If there was anything Melody loved more than a peaceful walk through the Endless Plains, would probably be a way back home.

No, really, Melody had been wandering about for about six hours, and was now lost.

"Okay, Kasai..."

[/b] Melody said to the Cyndaquil by her side. "I think we've passed that rock formation for about the twelfth time already. This wasn't part of the peaceful walk, I swear."[/b]

Kasai cried out. Despite the fact that both he and Melody were lost, he enjoyed building bonding with his savior, his new trainer, Melody.

Melody's eyes lost their luster as the young trainer began to feel hungry. As her stomach growled, the small Cyndaquil looked up at her, growling back.

"Well, this is not good at all."[/b] Melody looked down at Kasai again.
[/blockquote][/font]

[Kasia Stark]

Kasia looked up at the sound of a voice, and her eyes brightened. "That's it! We can battle another trainer to see how we're doing compared to the rest of the school! What do you think guys?" she turned excitedly to her somewhat unenthusiastic Purrloin and her now interested Stunky. She picked up Pepay, grunting a bit, "Oh, you've gotten a bit heavy." He snorted indignantly, "Speak for yourself, maitresse." Kasia simply smiled, not fully understanding what he said but noting the tone of voice, and she hefted him up, "Oh, it's okay. I just might not be able to carry you around as much. I still love you." She gave him a swift kiss on the forehead and he fluffed himself out proudly, forgetting how insulted he had felt just moments ago.

"Now let's go ask that trainer if they'd like to battle!" she said eagerly, heading off towards where she had heard the voice. "Hello out there?" she wandered around. When the girl with dark hair came into sight, she said eagerly, "Hey, wanna battle? I'm pretty new here and I need to train." Her Purrloin slinked behind her, staying out of sight, tail hanging dejectedly, and whiskers twitching mutinously.

[Melody Taylors]

Melody watched as Kasai, who had gotten startled, ran behind the young trainer's stocking-clad legs. Melody blinked quickly before turning to the young trainer near her.

"Um, well, okay."

[/b] Melody seemed a little dazed, mostly because of her empty stomach, but also because she didn't expect to see anyone here too. Maybe after the battle she would ask for directions.

"Come on, Kasai, it's about time you starred in your first battle."[/b] Melody said, nudging the small Cyndaquil with her left foot.

Kasai sighed softly, and timidly stood in front of his trainer, staring intently at the trainer who was challenging Melody. His look translated along the lines of 'please don't eat me.'

"Alright. I don't mind battling."[/b] Melody nodded, bowing slightly. "My name's Melody, by the way."[/b][/blockquote][/font]

[Kasia Stark]

Kasia hardly seemed to notice Melody's dazed look. In fact, she simply said, "Great!" as soon as Melody said "okay" and placed the Stunky at her feet. He leapt over to the Cyndaquil and sniffed intently, bushy tail swishing, "Do not worry your leetle 'ead, mon petit ami. Eet will not do you any good. Do not expect moi to go easy on you though!" He jumped backwards a few feet, ready to take any of his mistress' orders.

"Alright then, I hope you're ready cause I'm rarin' to go!" Kasia half-shouted. "And let's go, Pepay! Start off strong with a Bite!" Pepay dashed forward again, baring his teeth, all looks of friendliness gone from his features.

[Melody Taylors]

Kasai's breath became a little labored, mostly from anxiety.

"You can do it, Kasai-kun, you'll do well!"

[/b] Melody flashed a victory V at Kasai, and nodded approvingly.

'Oh dear lord, no, no, don't count on me, oh, I'm going to mess up so bad, and then she's going to beat me down... I can't mess up, I don't want to be a dissapointmeeeent...'[/i] Kasai began to cry in his head, although he didn't show it in his outer demeanor.

"Now for your first attack, dear..."[/b] Melody snapped her fingers. "Flame Wheel, go!"[/b]

'What does that mean? Oh no, I'm having anxiety issues. Breathe, me, breathe. I just gotta engulf myself in flames... oh, but what if I burn myself again? I'm gonna end up getting beaten by heeer...'[/i] Kasai shook in fear as he saw the skunk.

Taking a quick look at Melody and her warm smile, Kasai relaxed a bit. 'But she wouldn't beat me, right? She promised... but... Momma Typhlosion told me she beat me because she loves me... does that mean my trainer doesn't love me? Why must love hurt so much?' [/i]

"Kasai... dear, are you okay?"[/b] Melody blinked, looking down at her Cyndaquil, as Kasia yelled out her attack, Melody turned quickly to Pepay as he began to charge towards Kasai. "You can do it, I believe in you."[/b]

'She believes in me... she believes in me...'[/i] Kasai said to himself. 'I can do this... I'm not going to mess u-'[/i]

Kasai's internal thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pain. A sharp... biting pain.

Trying to shake the Skunk Pokemon off him, Kasai began to cloak himself in flames. 'I'm doing it, I'm doing it! Oh sweet warmth, I'm actually doing it!' [/i]

With Pepay close to him, the Cyndaquil began to charge towards him as fast as his little feet could get him.[/blockquote][/font]

[Kasia Stark]

"Pepay," Kasia gasped. She hissed through her teeth, and said, "Wait for the right moment, and as soon as he's too close to stop the Flame Wheel, start your Fury Swipes!"

Pepay nodded curtly in response and braced himself. He'd fight as best as he could and show her that he could do more than help her capture wild pokemon. He'd prove to her how well he could fight other trainers' pokemon! The flaming Cyndaquil only slightly daunted him. He knew that if he timed it right, he might be able to throw in a good amount of Fury Swipes before it hit, and maybe one more after.

Right before the Cyndaquil hit, Pepay launched himself into Fury Swipes, slashing right, then left. The Flame Wheel went careening into him, knocking him back a bit. He aimed one last swipe the Cyndaquil before being being thrown back onto the ground. He was up in a flash, now a few feet away from Kasai and snarling furiously.

[dice=4]+1= number of times Fury Swipes hits[rand=2249736963281961461262949030825765997015183251396869595905994636]

[Melody Taylors]

The Fury Swipes hit and hurt Kasai, but he didn't mind, somewhat. He was taught (albeit for more malicious reasons) that pain was simply weakness leaving the body. He could endure a couple more hits for now, but he was still hurting.

Breathing heavily, Kasai stared at Pepay, or well, as much as his cutely closed eyes could stare. The flame on his back burning quite warmly, although it was probably only two-thirds, to a half of its normal heat.

"Let's try the new thing we practiced."

[/b] Melody nodded, "Kousoku Sattou! Go!"[/b]

'Kousoku Sattou' was basically the mixture of a Quick Attack and Flame Charge. While a rather basic combination, it still proved to be rather quick, and was a nice display of fire too, Melody had to admit.

Having the confidence of the previous Flame Wheel, Kasai had little to no problems cloaking himself in fire once again. Trying to run as fast as he could to mix up the Quick Attack into the attack, his little legs could only get him so far. Perhaps it wasn't a perfect display of the combination, but he did it as well as he could. He was still careening towards Pepay in blinding fast speeds, looking like a stray fire ball.[/blockquote][/font]

[Kasia Stark]

Biting her lip, Kasia knew what she had to do. Pepay would take some damage, but she knew he'd be able to stand it. "Screech, before it gets too close!" she said strongly. He immediately opened his mouth wide and a horrible, earsplitting sound split through the air, reducing the Cyndaquil's defense. That was enough time for Kasai to go fireballing into Pepay. "Now, Slash!" Through the flames, Pepay could hear his mistress's commands, and he did as best to make a come back with a Slash, stretching his claws out to swipe across the Cyndaquil.

[Melody Taylors]

As Kasai felt the slash go through him, he fell right down to the ground. He wasn't done just yet, he was hanging on by the skin of his teeth. Melody feared that Kasai was just too weak to begin with, and was growing more and more worried of Kasai's wellbeing.

Barely standing up, the Cyndaquil on the other hand, was more worried about whether or not he was going down without a fight. Looking back at his trainer, Kasai let out a weakened cry, further emphazised by the low flames emanating from his back. Down to the last of his health, Kasai felt his Blaze ability kicking in.

Sighing, Melody understood too well that Kasai was about to fall, but at the same time, she understood that he wanted to at least go out with a bang. Nodding slowly, Melody covered her mouth, thinking of her next attack.

"Kasai! Use Lava Plume!"

[/b]

Taking a deep breath, then exhaling, Kasai unleashed a menagerie of feather and leaf-like flames that danced around him gracefully. As soon as Melody snapped her fingers, the Cyndaquil directed the fire attack directly at Pepay.

[dice=10]
[Lava Plume has a 30% chance of burining the target. 1~3 inflicts a burn, anything higher saves.]

[/blockquote][/font][rand=6954119545949512564149681813125718516173570746947207024639221102]

[Kasia Stark]

Kasia's pulse quickened. The Cyndaquil was weakening. It was time to end this thing. "One more Slash, nice and quick! It's almost down!" The Stunky grumbled softly, but still obeyed, launching himself forward. He couldn't take much more, but if he moved fast enough, he wouldn't have to. He rushed straight through the flames, taking the damage head-on and darting out of the flames with claws outstretched. With shining claws, he slashed one set across the Cyndaquil's face and the other across the Cyndaquil's throat.

[Melody Taylors]

The rough, scratchy feeling was the last thing Kasai felt before his subsequent fall. That was as much as the little Cyndaquil's body was going to let him have. As the fire in his back extinguished itself, the poor creature passed out right in front of his attacker.

Melody took a deep breath as she looked for Kasai's Poke Ball. She didn't expect Kasai to come out victorious in the fight, but she was at least hoping he'd feel more confident for each battle that came along. Hell, Kasai did much, much better than Melody had expected.

But alas, Kasai was too inexperienced and needed a bit more training, which Melody understood well. Not being a sore loser, Melody recalled Kasai, and approached Kasia once again, trying not to confuse their overly-similar names. She bowed politely, conceding to her, as she did every other time she lost.

"Congratulations!"

[/b] Melody smiled warmly. "That was a good battle. I had lots of fun!"[/b][/blockquote][/font]

[Kasia Stark]

Her heart was still racing, pounding so fast that she wasn't sure if she could keep up with it. The thrill of the battle was coursing through her veins, and it took her a few seconds to realize that it was over. She blinked, rubbed her head, and smiled at Pepay, "Good work, dear. Now come back and take a nice long rest." The Purrloin was left, feeling a hint of surprise ruffle her fur. Perhaps she had been wrong about her trainer. Maybe the girl was worth giving a try after all. Kasia quickly stepped over to Melody. She was unfamiliar with her manner of bowing, but she clumsily bowed back as well. It just seemed to be the right thing to do. She grinned back toothily, "Thanks. Perhaps I'll get more into battling than I had originally thought I would. I had lots of fun too. I'm heading back to the dorm now. I've got a lot to think about." With that, Kasia turned away, picked up her Purrloin (to her great protests) and began to wander back towards the dorm.