Raising Inner Strength

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Hidon was a really strong Charmander. At least, as far as he was concerned or was willing to admit. He was certainly not about to call himself weak or helpless. He felt that that described the very opposite of his being. But...even he couldn't admit that a few of his outs for training purposes had been disasters. He had met an Absol that had practically destroyed him. He'd met with a Deino who pinned him down with ease and ended a fight within seconds. He'd even battled with a Treecko who had Pounded him into submission while he slumbered away. But worst of all, in his mind was the wild Ariados that had nearly knocked him out and robbed him of everything he had. It had spooked him, rendered him completely helpless with webbing, and taunted him the entire time while creeping him out. That fight bothered him the most. And he knew exactly why.

That had been the first time that Hidon had actually felt true fear in years. And that fear had rendered him completely useless in that fight. He was humiliated by his performance that day. And had it not been for the help of a passing Flabébé, he would have been defeated and robbed. He needed to iron those fears out. He needed to get himself back on track. And most of all, he needed to be a lot stronger than he was now...both physically and, apparently, mentally. He needed to steel himself so that he wouldn't be so useless in the face of fear again. And that was why he found himself hear, in the dungeon known as Pricklemist Hill. It wasn't too far away from Grassveil Town, where he made his home and it was supposedly home to Ghost Pokémon. The mist made things around him tougher to see and the whole place gave him some kind of chill down his spine and an entire "haunted hill" kind of vibe. And it certainly did not help that people from Grassveil told him ghost stories about the place. Though for all he truly knew, these ghosts might not exist in the first place and he could just be wasting his time. Still...he felt like he could be stalked in the mist with relative ease or otherwise scared easily.

And that was exactly what he was hoping for. After all, what better place than a foggy land where Ghost Pokémon supposedly lived to help train himself to fight through fear? He just hoped that his fear wouldn't get the better of him again. He might not have such luck a second time.... The thought made him shiver a little and he now felt slightly jumpy. He took step after step, deeper into the mist, slightly hoping in the back of his mind that his bravado was not about to get himself killed or something.

Oh, it was satisfying to shut this guy up, however briefly. She'd assumed he was just trying to get the aura to crash into her, but it occured to her that he might've actually been trying to punch her with that wierd attack. Hopefully that wasn't the case, just the aura stung badly enough. She wanted to return a snarky comment, something about how he should be the one giving up, but doing that would mean she'd need to stop firing Embers. She couldn't afford that right now and give the hothead a chance to counterattack... or worse, give him enough distance to use that powerful move again. Her cheek was still stinging. She was holding him off by doing this, and closing the distance between them. She was probably wearing him down a little, too, but he'd come up with some way to strike back if she didn't change tactics.

Maybe it was time...? Using Thrash would be risky, but she had managed to get into close range. If she was going to use the move, now was the time. It would leave her confused afterwards, though, and that made her hesitate. She did not want to leave herself open like that unless she was sure that Thrash would be enough to beat him. She wanted to save it as her ace in the hole. It was tempting, for sure, but she wanted to wear down the Charmander a bit more before going in for the finishing blow. Well, that still left her with Rage. That was as good an option as any. The red aura returned, surrounding her body. She'd broken her 'streak' when she used Ember, but the move would still boost the power of her blows a little bit. No reason not to use it, she decided.

She charged at Hidon, and while she didn't have very much room to gain momentum, that also meant he'd need to react quickly if he wanted to dodge her. Maybe she'd be able to take him by surprise if he'd been expecting her to keep firing Embers. She tried to bash him with the steel-hard silver part of her head, using it as a makeshift weapon.

Energy: 7 (+1 from new page)

{Energy: 9 + 1 (new page) = 10}

Hidon growled as he was constantly peppered with Ember attacks. He was feeling himself starting to grow weaker with each blast and he knew that he had to put a stop to this soon. If he didn't, he'd end up getting beat by mere fire-type attacks. By a non-Fire Pokémon. Now THAT would probably be embarrassing. He growled and readied himself to swing his fist forward and meet the challenge head-on as usual. He would have to step forward and drive a fist straight into her face and show her that he didn't need his Dragon Rush attack to cause some damage. And that was exactly what he planned to do from here. He shifted his stance so that he was only using one arm to defend himself against the fireballs, pulled his fist back...

And then the fireballs just...stopped. And the next moment, the Bagon was charging him much like he had done against her not too long ago. Just as Alkere had hoped, he was taken completely by surprise when she suddenly switched tactics. As a result, he was incapable of bringing up his defenses quickly enough to deal with her sudden Rage attack. The Bagon's crest came crashing down upon his body, causing him to grunt in pain from the impact. The nasty headbutt caused him to sink to one of his knees at the Bagon's feet. He was stunned from the impact and shook his head, trying to clear it before she could press the advantage. After all...she was on top at the moment. And he needed to work fast to reverse the situation.

The small dragon type watched as her enemy crumpled before her. She felt a burst of triumph, but she had a hunch that this guy wasn't going to surrender yet. ... so, uh, what did she do? She couldn't exactly punch the Charmander, thanks to her stubby arms, and she wasn't awfully fond of the idea of ramming her head into the ground. That could backfire way too easily, especially when he was this close to her feet. She settled for kicking the fire type with the sharp claws on her feet, spewing out another few Embers for good measure as she waited to see how he'd fight back next. "You done yet, hotshot? I feel bad beating up on some runt..." She chuckled, taking a small step back.

Hidon groaned for a moment as he tried to recover from the strong headbutt he'd just received. Unfortunately for him, Alkere was obviously not planning on letting him go that easily. He saw her pull up one of her legs and a foot came crashing against his body. He grunted in pain from the kick and was forced down onto his back at her feet, only to be met with a few more fireballs due to another fresh rounds of Ember attacks. He grunted again as the fireballs connected and he found himself laying sprawled out on he ground at the small Dragon-type's feet. He was just lucky that, instead of moving to pin him down with one of her feet, she had taken a step back instead.

The Charmander had to admit...she was really strong. Much stronger than she looked. He was actually starting to regret picking this fight. But at the same time...despite her taunts and quips, he actually found himself having some fun. Sure, he was losing the fight at the moment. But fighting an opponent that was this challenging, but still not out of his league like some of the others had been? There was some fun to be had here.

...Or at least there was, until he heard the Bagon's freshest taunt. And he frowned when he heard the word thrown back at him. "R-runt...?" he growled up at her, pushing himself back up...albeit more slowly than before. He was tiring now, that much was obvious. And he was breathing a little harder. But he was still not going to just roll over. He needed to show her what he could do. "Maybe you're stronger than I thought you were," he said. "But I can promise you that I'm no runt!" With that, he charged head-first once again. He did not hesitate or make any further attempts to back off. He was going to show her his strength up close and personal. He swung his fist forward, trying to slug her in the left side of her face with a right hook as hard as he could. Of course, throwing all of his weight behind the punch like he did might not have been the smartest move. If Alkere could avoid the attack, he'd virtually be a sitting duck.

Apparently he hadn't quite caught the irony of her trying to echo what he'd said earlier. He looked pretty beat up, too... which was pretty much her fault. But hey, she hadn't picked the fight here. Even though this guy was loosing, at least in her eyes, he was far from helpless. She could begrudgingly respect the passion he was putting into this fight, even if she could care less about his general attitude. "Heh... glad to hear it." She murmured. She didn't move when the Charmander approached her, instead re-summoning the red aura that surrounded her body. He struck her with a pair of powerful punches. She cringed at the blows, and they honestly hit a lot harder than she thought they would. He wasn't using a move, sure, but that hardly meant it couldn't hurt.

Despite the pain, she forced herself to move instead of flinching. She had the perfect chance to strike back here. She launched herself forward towards the the Charmander, once more trying to bash him with the silver part of her head. Yeah, she'd pulled the same trick a couple of times before, but both times it had worked wonders. Plus, the red aura surrounding her had grown brighter during both hits. With a twice-boosted Rage attack and her steel-hard skull, this attack would probably hit pretty hard if it worked out. Besides... she couldn't exactly punch him back, so she had to make do.

Hidon's scowl quickly changed into a smirk, however. He heard what the Bagon had to say and he had just managed to land a strong punch against her. Finally, he had done some decent damage that was satisfying to land. And as it turned out...she seemed to be enjoying the struggle just as much as he was. Well then...he'd just have to give her even more to enjoy, wasn't he? This time, though, Hidon caught the red aura flaring up around her, causing his eyes to widen and his fists to hesitate. What was that? Whatever it was, it had flared up when his fists connected. Did his own attacks do something for his opponent?

Just when the thought crossed his mind, Alkere was already going for her counterattack. Almost immediately after his punch landed, while he was making the observations, she lunged at him. Due to his distracted thoughts, he could not even hope to get out of the way of this attack yet again. Thankfully, though, he was able to bring up his guard and prepare himself for the blow to come. He felt the Bagon's head bash powerfully into his own body. "Rgh...!" he grunted when the powerful blow landed against his skull. He stumbled backward, but thanks to his split-second preparation, he did not fall this time. However, that did not mean he wasn't seeing stars. It was clear from his pained expression that he had taken a pretty good amount of damage there. He couldn't let this go on for much longer. He wasn't sure how many more hits he could take. He was really starting to get worn down...

And so, he shook his head and tried to ready some form of counterattack. He immediately charged right back into the fray. Although this time, his actions were just noticeably more sluggish. His charge sparked flames around his body, and he attempted to slam his flame-covered body like a flaming bullet into Alkere's chest using his Flame Charge once more.

The draon type tried to move aside as she saw Hidon move to attack, but despite his more sluggish movement, she didn't have too much space to manuever. They were too close to each other for her to effectively dodge, and she ended up stumbling backwards awkwardly as he crashed into her, the flames searing her scales. She thought she'd been on top so far, but when this guy landed his blows, they really stung. ... well, not as if she would admit that if anyone asked. The red aura burned brighter still, and she curled her hands into fists. Alright, what next...? He was looking pretty worn down. Was now a good time?

... screw it, she was doing it. She'd been hiding this trick all battle and now seemed like a good time to make use of it. The red aura morphed into a bluish-purple as Alkere triggered her egg move, Thrash. The pain suddenly lessened, as if it had faded into the background. Her body felt lighter and stronger, her senses a bit sharper. She narrowed her eyes, focusing on the Charmander. Now that she'd done that, she needed to end this fast, before she got confused. He wasn't exactly looking like he was in top shape anymore. Granted, she wasn't either, but the power boost from her favorite move would at least hide that for a while.

Again, she dashed towards the fire type with her head facing downwards. But instead of trying to bash him with her head again, she used her momentum to make a half-turn so her side was facing Hidon. From there, she aimed a powerful kick at her enemy. Maybe that would take him by surprise if he expected her to pull the same trick four times, but if not she'd just have to see how he reacted.

Hidon grinned as he felt his Flame Charge make a direct connection to his opponent's body this time. Last time he had attempted to use this attack, she had crashed through his guard and knocked him to the floor. This time, he was able to get away free of harm. He stopped his momentum as soon as he crashed into her and watched her reaction. She stumbled back, clearly having taken some decent damage, despite the type advantage she had. Although he had to admit, she didn't seem to seem as harmed by the attack as he'd have liked. She did not fall to the ground or even utter any type of groan or grunt. He couldn't avoid it any longer. She was good. Really good. Still...that didn't mean he couldn't win. And he would definitely win.

He nodded to confirm his own thoughts, coaching himself to prepare for his next move. But just as he prepared to leap backward and give himself some more room to launch his Dragon Rush attack again for a hopefully finishing blow, Alkere's aura changed. What was once a flaring red was now a bluish color. And she suddenly looked even more focused and ferocious than before. And when she narrowed her eyes to focus on him, he felt slightly unnerved and his body tensed. He hadn't expected something like this. He cancelled his plans to strike with his Dragon Rush and instead decided to prepare himself. Whatever she was about to do, he wanted to make sure that his next Dragon Rush would land completely without incident, with no opposing force to weaken it.

When Alkere merely charged at him like before, however, he relaxed slightly. It seemed that she was merely doing the same attack for a fourth time. This time, however, he was prepared to dodge it. At the last second he would duck down and move to the side before countering with a solid punch or kick to her back. But when he prepared himself to move, though...she instead made a half-turn, which caught him completely by surprise. He had been planning to react to an attack from the top of her body. Instead, a foot was driven powerfully into the pit of his stomach.

"Urghk...!" he coughed as the kick landed successfully. He slid back a few inches, claws scratching the earth beneath him slightly. The pure power of the attack was astonishing...but even worse was where he had been kicked. Due to the blow to his gut, he'd been completely winded and he doubled over slightly. Alkere had him right where she wanted him...and Hidon dreaded what was to come next.

The Bagon panted, greedily sucking the air back into her lungs, despite the rush of energy zipping through her body. Her move had made it so Alkere didn’t feel her exhaustion or pain as potently, but that didn’t mean her body wasn’t still a bit beaten up. Come on, press the advantage! Quick! Before Thrash wears off! She reminded herself. She didn’t want to let this drag out until she got confused... Which could be anytime now. Thrash didn’t last any longer than a minute or two, at most. Despite the solid blow she had just landed against the Charmander, that worried her. She needed to be decisive now. He was winded in front of her and had taken a few bad hits, but had she triggered Thrash too early? She’d be wide open to any counterattacks her foe could launch if the fight went on for long enough.

She shook off her doubts, determined to finish this before that happened. This would turn out fine. She shouldn’t be worrying this much when she had the upper hand! She aimed another kick at her opponent and followed it up by bashing by head against the ground in an attempt to hit the fire type. The latter might not had been a great move in hindsight, seeing as she’d have slammed her own head against the ground if Hidon managed to dodge her.

Hidon couldn't believe the power he had just felt from that one kick. Wh-what was that...? Had she been holding this back the entire battle? Had she been merely taking it easy on him? ...No, this must have been due to whatever that blue aura was that surrounded her. But what was that, then? Some kind of move that boosted her attack strength multiple times over or something? What kind of move could do that? These thoughts and more rushed through the Charmander's mind as he desperately struggled to recover from that powerful kick, trying to regain the breath he had lost. He breathed sharply and quickly, hoping to get back into the fray before it was too late.

But unfortunately for him, it was already too late. Alkere moved in for another attack, aiming another kick at his body. The foot found itself lodged firmly into the pit of his stomach yet again, which caused his eyes to widen and for his body to fully double over, arms reaching down instinctively to cover his stomach. Unfortunately for him, this instinctive action was just the position the Bagon needed for her next attack. After all, it was very difficult to see an attack coming when his head was directed toward his own feet and his eyes tightly shut. And then there it was. An all-too-familiar headbutt. He cried out as her skull smashed powerfully into the back of his head, which caused his body to collapse. He fell hard to the ground at her feet in a prone position.

But he as clearly not quite ready to give up the fight. He moved his arms so that they were beside his chest and started attempting to heave himself back up again. He could get as far as his hands and knees, but any further progress would be hard to make with Alkere standing over him.

The Rock Head Pokemon hit her mark, it seemed. She took a step back, readying another blow, when all of a sudden the world started to spin. Her vision grew fuzzy, with doubles of everything appearing before her eyes. No, no no no, not already! She tried to hide her alarm as the blue aura surrounding her began to dim, the pain in her face and chest returning. The exhaustion she felt before returned, seemingly even worse than before she had triggered Thrash. She silently cursed, she thought she'd had more time than this... no, things would turn out just fine. She just needed to finish this fight now, before he caught on to her confusion. By Arceus, though, this Charmander was stubborn. Why hadn't he just given up yet?! She let out a low, annoyed growl and aimed another kick at the fire type, but she missed him. She missed him pretty badly, in fact. She had aimed her kick at one of the doubles she was seeing, and ended up stumbling so badly she fell over onto her rear. She stared absentmindedly into the sky for a few seconds, and with that, her mind went somewhere far, far away. The confusion had kicked in.

Hidon groaned slightly as he continued trying to push himself back up again. He looked up, seeing the Bagon just as she was preparing her next attack, which seemed to be another kicked aimed at him. He flinched, unable to dodge the incoming foot and prepared to take another hit. But the blow never came. Her kick had missed its mark completely. She'd missed by a mile! But...how was that possible? Nobody could miss a kick from so close unless they had some SERIOUS coordination problems. But what really clued him in was when she stumbled backwards slightly, falling onto her own rear. The look was familiar to him, and he couldn't help but allow himself a small laugh...very audible to Alkere in all likelihood.

"Heheh...I don't know what happened...but you're Confused now, aren't you?" he asked her, a smug grin finally returning to his face. A funny expression to give her, considering he was still almost in the dirt himself, but he couldn't help it. He found the sight awfully hilarious.

Momentarily, a quick laugh reached her ears. It echoed all around her and Alkere spun her head around looking for the source. Her gaze settled on a certain Charmander after a moment, and a burst of rage filled her body. Why was he laughing at her? Okay, so she probably looked a little funny, but she'd still been beating him by miles! That was how she percieved things, at any rate."Heh... laugh it up while you can. I-" She tried to heave herself back up to her feet as she spoke, but needless to say it didn't work out very well when up looked like down. She ended up stumbling clumsily, nearly loosing her balance at the simple action of standing back up. She looked at the fire type... or at least, what she was pretty sure was the real Charmander. It might've just been another double.

"I'm... gonna be fine in a second..." She managed to finish her sentence. Her own words didn't sound like they came from her mouth, but from somewhere off to the right. Ugh. That was really weird. Her gaze darted off to the right for a moment before she remembered it was probably just another illusion. She wasn't seeing things straight right now... or hearing things right, either, apparently. She blinked rapidly a couple of times, trying to shake it off faster. There was a fight going on! She didn't have time for this! Sure, it was only a spar, but she had a hunch that the fire type in front of her would never let her hear the end of it if she botched this now. Especially if it was thanks to something downright foolish like triggering Thrash too early.

Hidon's laugh subsided quickly enough. He did find the sight awfully hilarious. But still, making fun of another Pokémon was not something he particularly enjoyed. He did love messing with somebody a little, but he certainly didn't want to constantly hammer her. Maybe at another time. Instead, he went back to pushing himself up from the ground and actually ended up on his rear again. Well...at least it wasn't in a half bow like he had been a moment ago. But he was breathing hard, and he could tell that this fight had really taken its toll on him. This Alkere was a lot stronger than he gave her credit for. She had gotten rather close to defeating him, despite his Dragon Rush move. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all.

"Heh...I'll...tell you what," the Charmander decided to say. "I'm tired, and you're confused. This...isn't gonna be a very productive fight for a while now. So...how about we just call it a draw?" He spoke between deeper-than-usual breaths, still trying to catch his own breath again. And this was a rather rare thing for him to say. Normally, he would never accept any less than his complete dominance over his foe. But here, something about this Bagon...completely impressed him. And for her, he was willing to settle on a draw. She was just as strong as he was. This had been one of the greatest fights he'd ever been involved in. And perhaps a draw now would give them more of a reason to battle again in the future. THAT'S when Hidon could finally stomp her and prove that he's the slightly better fighter.

Digizel carried out 10 launched of one Pricklemist Hill :

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Her senses were still a bit wonky, so she wasn’t sure she’d heard the Charmander right at first. A draw, huh? ... Maybe that wasn’t a bad option. She’d proven her point well enough, and neither of them really seemed mad anymore. Plus, as much as she loved to fight, it wasn’t going to be a whole lot of fun trying to dodge that strange aura-punching move of his when she couldn’t tell up from down. ... But besides that, she’d actually enjoyed herself a bit back there. She hadn’t taken too many hits, but when she did, this guy hit hard. After a moment of consideration, she nodded. ”Yeah... Yeah, I can live with a draw.” She agreed, a sly smile crawling on her face. ”But we’ll have to finish this another day.”

PhantomSun carried out 7 launched of one Pricklemist Hill :

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