By The Pond (Open)

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To say that she had gotten lost wasn't quite right. Nor was it right to say that the young Vulpix had come here intentionally. She had been mapping out her surroundings, trying to discover what lied just beyond the boundaries of her new town. That was how Lumina had stumbled upon a pair of Mystery Dungeons in the recent past, and now, she had found a small pond.

Equally curious and wary, the Fox Pokemon took a quick look around the area. This place definitely wasn't a Mystery Dungeon, unlike the pair of forests she had seen, Pecha and Shadowhue. And since those Pokemon relaxing nearby weren't attacking her, they probably weren't feral - it was more likely that they were citizens, like her.

In that case, this area seemed safe enough. Maybe she could even rest for a little while after all the walking she'd done.

Padding up to the edge of the pool, Lumina gently dipped her forepaws in, watching the small ripples they created. She wasn't eager to go swimming, since she was a fire type, but that didn't mean that she couldn't rest for a while.

Lumina remained silent for a few second longer before, quite suddenly, she lunged at the Riolu, who was now very close to her. She triggered a Flare Blitz attack, and although she wasn't sure if she could deal with a recoil, a powerful attack at close-quarters might have been her only shot at winning.

To say that she was proud of the little trick wasn't right. Nor was she exactly ashamed of it. She had seen it been used many times over before, and now she was just doing the same. She hadn't planned on getting hit by that branch to complete the ruse, that had been a bit of improvising. Apologies, Noel. But I've learnt the hard way not to let my guard down, and I thought you'd know the same. She thought, in a formal but not quite regretful way.

Noel gets hit and launched a few ways away she sits there but then gets up jumping eyes still calm "man I can't believe I fell for that" get a back into her stance "ok then let's go"

"Don't worry. At least no one ever falls for that one twice." Lumina murmured, getting back into a fighting stance. She wasn't in the best shape, since she had taken two very powerful blows. The first was from running right into that tree, and the second was from that branch Noel had just attacked her with. ... geez, trees really seemed to hate her today, didn't they. But anyways, the Vulpix knew that she'd need to finish this quickly if she wanted to turn the tide. "I'm ready." She confirmed, waiting for the Riolu to make the first move.

Noel still standing tall then dashes straight at her with her fist glowing with a large light "ok then here I come" *gotta hit with this*

On one hand, Noel was coming at her fast, and Lumina wasn't in the best shape. On the other, running right up to her was fairly predictable. As Noel ran towards her, the Vulpix fired four Embers at the Riolu, aiming at her feet and legs. If she could hit her with one, and maybe get her to stumble, trip, or otherwise loose her momentum, then Lumina would have an opening to attack.

Noel smiles as she kicks up the large branch that was in the way of her path the same one she threw at the Fox as the large chunk of wood shoots up Noel jumps at it arm still glowing with power as she uses the boost from the tree and the momentum from running to shoot right at the foxes unguarded back

The vixen fell for it, again. She wasn't quite sure what had happened, but there was a sharp impact at her back, and she went skidding across the clearing. Again. Lumina was getting a sense of deja-vu, for some reason. She pushed herself back to her paws, shaking grass off of her orange and white fur. "Alright... I think I've had enough." She groaned, blinking black dots out of her vision. "I swear, trees hate me today."

Noel lands on the ground as the large branch falls behind her "ya tree's just seem to be hating you today" Noel walks over off her guard but then stops halfway "this isn't another trick is it?" Noel asks slightly changing her stance to a more defensive stance

Lumina couldn't help but chuckle, despite her poor condition. "See? I told you nobody falls for it twice." The vixen paused. "... but you win, for real this time. Explorer's honour." She wasn't sure if explorer's honour was a real thing, but no matter. She was actually telling the truth, although she could understand if Noel was hesitant to believe her.

"Well if you put your honor on the line I believe you" Noel smiling walks over knowing that explores honor may or may not be real. She gets over there and sits down "man you're strong" she says rubbing her stomach "that hit really hurt"

"Thank you." Lumina nodded calmly as she padded up to the pond. She was thanking the Riolu equally for believing her and for the compliment. "I could say the same to you. That was what I'd consider a good battle, and I haven't had one of those since I moved to Grassveil." She added. Once more her thoughts flicked back to her old town; perhaps she was growing homesick lately.

"Ya I haven't had a fight that good since ..." suddenly Noel stopped talking and looked down she was lost in her own mind for a bit until her mind shot back the the conversation "oh ah sorry since one of my old friends fang"

Lumina internally debated with herself over whether or not to open up that can of worms by asking who Fang was, but she decided against it. Whoever it was, it seemed like a sore spot for Noel. "Well... The Pokemon who were here must be coming back soon, now that the Pidgeotto's gone." She deduced, deciding to change the topic.

"Ya or our fight scared them off again" Noel stated jokingly slightly laughing "we did cause a lot of noise around here. And I think I broke two trees over there" points to the burned one and the one with a large crack

Lumina rolled her eyes. "... I think I just remembered why trees hate me." She called, eyeing the tree with a large burn mark that she had made when she crashed into it with that Flare Blitz. It hadn't started a forest fire or anything, thankfully, but it also didn't exactly look pretty.