Hidon's Day Off

Hidon stretched his arms out and opened his mouth wide, letting a rather loud yawn escape his mouth. Today was a somewhat slow day. Usually, he would be out and about in dungeons, crawling through them in an attempt to scour for some items for his team to use as well as getting in some extra training against feral and wild Pokémon within them. But today, for some reason, Hidon wasn't particularly feeling up to it. His team was finally supposed to go on its first outing soon, and he couldn't be more excited for it. And so, he had decided to wait on that and have some fun somewhere in town in the meantime. In his mind, he had earned it with all of the struggles he'd been going through the past few days. He might have gotten defeated a lot in battles, but he was still stronger than he used to be. On top of that, he'd actually come out of a lot of tight spots victorious as well. So as far as he was concerned, he'd earned a day o relaxation.

Besides, who knows? He might end up coming across somebody strong willing to battle with him here in the town. Most of the residents didn't particularly care about getting stronger since they could simply file requests with the Guild. And even fewer were probably willing to spar with him, as they were often busy with this and that around town. Still, maybe he could get lucky today. After all, for all he knew, he could find a strong Pokémon to consider his rival.

With that thought on his mind, Hidon continued to lounge around in the town square, looking for any Pokémon wandering around that didn't look particularly busy and looked like they could be pretty tough or interested in some battling.

Mack rested against his wooden log, slanted against the side of his house. It was his midday nap, and today had been an slow day indeed. The few Pokémon who came up to him just wanted objects moved or help carrying things, which considering Mack's strength didn't take long. Suddenly an horrible thought raced through Mack's mind.

"What if a customer is right there watching me sleep?"

Mack was horrified. He was supposed to be strong and hardworking, not lazy! He had to wake up, fast! He jolted awake, and then fell flat on his face. His legs fell asleep. Grumbling, Mack got back up, slapped a smile on his face and exclaimed in the friendliest tone he could muster,

"Hello friend! Welcome to Mack's Construction Service! How can I help you with your construction or deconstruction needs!"

He then realized nobody was there. Sighing, he started to head back to his log, ready to continue his nap, when he then noticed the steel girder in his yard.

"You know," Bruce thought to himself, "Maybe today's the day!"

With a new since of confidence and determination, Mack marched over to the steel beam, took a deep breath, griped it with his muscular arms, and tried to lift it. He grunted and heaved, sweating profusely. He kept pulling and pulling, but the bar wouldn't move an inch! Finally he gave up, frustrated.

"What would my dad think of this?" Mack thought to himself, "I should be lifting that dumb hunk of metal at least a foot off the ground now!"

Angered at himself, Mack kicked the steel girder with all his might, bad move. He might be strong, but that doesn't mean kicking a large piece of metal didn't hurt. Feelings of anger and embarrassment were replaced with strong feelings of pain from his right foot. He then grabbed on to his foot and jumped around like a mad Spoink, yelling "Ouch!" and other words best not repeated. It would have been a comical sight, if anyone was around to see it. Finally the pain subsided, and Mack fell to his knees, uttering another curse under his breath. He then calmed down and looked back at the wooden log.

"Tell me you didn't see that Benjamin,"

The wooden log stayed put, the wind gently blowing on its rough surface. Mack then got up to his feet with a wry smile and walked over to "Benjamin".

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up buddy,"

He then then leaned once more against the log, getting ready to shut his eyes.

Hidon scanned the crowd as they passed by in the town square. Each one looked at least as busy as the last. And the few that didn't were either younger kids playing, adults busy watching said kids, or just flat-out looked unimpressive. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised; most of the strong Pokémon in this town already had jobs that needed to be done or were out exploring at the moment. He would probably be rather hard-pressed to find any Pokémon around here that were capable of giving him exactly what he were looking for...a good, solid fight.

That thought caused the Charmander to pause and reconsider what he was doing here. He hadn't thought about it until now, but it was particularly strange that he wanted to spend his day off of training and exploring...by exploring the town and getting some extra battling in while he was at it. But of course, he quickly shoved the thought aside with a slight smirk on his face. Of course he spent his day off like that. Battling was more than just training to him. It was a passion. He loved to fight; it was easily his favorite thing to do in the day. And just what was wrong with him doing what he loved to do on his day off? Nothing, that's what! He grinned to himself, feeling rather satisfied at having answered his own mental question.

At that moment, his eyes fell upon a Pokémon not far from where he was resting. There was a house somewhat down the road, and he saw what appeared to be a somewhat muscular-looking Pokémon reaching down, gripping some kind of steel girder that was laying on the ground, and trying to lift it into the air. After a failed attempt, the Pokémon had kicked at the girder and started hopping in place, apparently angry. He couldn't help but grin to himself and let out a small chuckle. Maybe this guy was worth checking out. He might not be able to lift steel, but he certainly looked pretty strong. And better yet, he didn't seem particularly busy. Maybe he would be interested....

With that thought on his mind, Hidon nodded and stepped off, making his way toward where Mack the Timburr was now leaning up against a large log. The Charmander approached just as the Muscular Pokémon was starting to close his eyes again. "Hey, you! With the log!" Hidon suddenly called out to the other Pokémon. He waited to make sure that the Pokémon heard him and acknowledged him before continuing. "I saw you trying to lift that metal thing earlier. You a weight-lifter or something?" For now, he decided to leave out the bit regarding the failure. He wanted to stick to his good side.

Plus...he didn't want to waste all of his mid-battle trash-talking ammo so soon.

Mack tilted his head towards the voice, angered at who would dare interrupt his nap, and saw a Charmander standing there, the flame on its tail glowing a bright orange. His anger then turned into curiosity faster than a Pikachu preforming a Quick Attack,

"His eyes," Mack thought to himself, "Those eyes don't want any construction tip, they want a battle. Well... I don't have any plans for today, or anything happening at the moment, and he looks like a decent enough challenge, I'll bite. Should be a lot of fun,"

"But wait!" Mack suddenly realized, "He saw me make a fool out of myself with that girder!"

Mack paused a while, thinking of what to say but not breaking his stare, finally he began talking to the Charmander,

"Weight Lifter?" Mack said with confident smirk, "You're close actually. I'm technically a construction worker,"

He then got up from his leaning position, his feet wide awake this time, and as he walked over to the flame tailed Pokémon he picked up his trusty log Benjamin with just one hand, both for the battle and to show his strength.

"And a pretty darn good one too!" Mack added with confidence. When he finally got to the Charmander, he set his log down like an old Pokémon would a cane, shaking the ground due to its weight. Leaning elbow first against it, Mack continued his boast,

"I can set up buildings," Mack then flexed his right arm, showing his muscular physique, "And tear them down in record time all by myself. I'm the strongest construction worker there is, and that's not a boast, that's a fact. Believe it or not though, I'm only getting stronger," He then pointed at the steel girder

"You see that girder, it's not your ordinary hunk of steel. It was smelted in Stonecutter Valley, my home village, and weighs in at around half a Snorlax, more accurately the bottom half,"

Mack then smirked, "If a Timburr like me can lift that, I will become a Gurdurr, and if I'm lucky and train enough as a Gurdurr, I can become a Conkeldurr and lead my own village as the strongest there is,"

Mack then turned back to the young Charmander, seeing that while it didn't care about what he was saying, it cared about him,

"But you don't care about that do you? You walked up to me not to hear my hopes and dreams, but to try and knock me into dreamland! Well friend, I have nothing better to do today, and neither do you as I can see, so if you want a battle, it's on. I'll even let you pick the location,"

Mack then chuckled a little, he had a great line in mind,

"Just be sure wherever we fight, be it here or there, it's close to a hospital,"

Mack then paused a little, wanting to time the line just right,

"Because you just might make medical history,"

Mack then couldn't help but just burst out laughing. That was perfect! He should have gotten someone to write it down! After a good while the Timburr stopped, shrugged, and offered out his hand,

"The name's Mack, yours?"

Hidon raised his brow slightly when Mack started introducing himself as a construction worker, not really a weight lifter. Although, he supposed the Timburr had a point. Was there really much of a difference? Either way, he'd be lifting heavy objects all day to move them around, right? However, when Mack began walking toward him, he saw the Fighting-type Pokémon reach over to the log that was leaning up against the building. What...was he doing? A moment later, the log was being picked up, off of the ground, causing Hidon's eyes to widen slightly in surprise. This Pokémon was carrying that huge log with nothing but one arm? And any doubts he had to the log's actual weight were soon crushed as the chunk of wood was dropped onto the ground, resulting in the ground beneath his feet trembling for a moment.

Okay. NOW he was really interested. A slight smirk began to crawl onto the Charmander's face as Mack began to flex and show off his physique. This was his kind of Pokémon. Strong, and always willing to brag about his strength. He couldn't wait to see just how strong this guy really was. He usually didn't like to hear other Pokémon bragging about how strong they were and would rather just get to the fight, but here, he found himself strangely invested in what the Timburr had to say next. It was probably for no other reason than he simply wanted to know as much as he could about this guy. He had just lifted that heavy wooden log with one arm...and effortlessly!

Hidon's gaze was directed to the girder on the ground. He listened to his explanation and grinned at it. So, this guy wasn't quite strong enough to evolve, huh? Apparently, that girder's even heavier than steel. The sheer thought of this Timburr lifting that was impressive. Honestly, he couldn't wait to see that!

Mack's words brought his attention back to the muscular Pokémon. The Timburr even went so far as to come up with an interesting introduction to the smack-talk. And then, he even began to let out a loud laugh. Wow...he liked this Pokémon already.

"Hidon," the Charmander replied with a wide grin on his face. He could hardly contain his excitement as he extended his arm and shook it in a friendly gesture just before the battle. "And don't jump to conclusions so fast, Mack. I loved your little story. But you're gonna hit a road block. Y'see..." He then put his claws to his waist and puffed out his chest, full of pride. "I'm the Pokémon that's going to be the strongest Pokémon ever. Even though I probably might not be in your village or whatever, you're still just gonna have to make do with second best."

After a moment's hesitation, he grinned. "And right here and right now is good with me, as long as it's good with you." Still, though, something was creeping on him. A strong desire to see...just for himself. And just to make sure.

"Hey, but before we start, can I see that?" He gestured at Mack's log, Benjamin. "I saw you pick it up like that and was curious how heavy it really was. I'll give it back before the fight starts."

Mack looked at the both literal and figural fiery Pokémon as it boasted about its own strength. If the Pokémon's words were true, Mack might have met someone equal to him in strength, which didn't happen often.

"Hidon huh?" Mack thought to himself, "Interesting name,"

As he examined his soon to be opponent, Mack couldn't shake the feeling something was special about him. The Pokémon seemed to be filled with power yet to be unleashed even by himself. Maybe this Pokémon is equal, or even superior, to him in strength!

"Or maybe it's because I'm right next to his tail flame," Mack thought, stepping back to avoid an spark from Hidon's tail as he moved. This was going to be fun indeed. Mack then noticed Hidon motioning to the log named Benjamin, wanting to hold it.

"Probably shouldn't mention the fact you have a name buddy," Mack whispered silently to Benjamin, "That's for after the fight,"

"Alrighty then!" Mack then proclaimed in his usual loud voice, "Hope you have a good stance!"

Mack then did a underhand toss, his right arm propelling the log into Hidon's arms, "Hope this doesn't end up accidentally knocking him down, or worse out," Mack thought to himself, "I sometimes don't have the best aim and... it would just be unfortunate if this Hidon guy got knocked out before I actually tried to knock him out!" Mack then smiled to himself, "He seems strong enough, he should be fine,"

Hidon's smirk and confident expression soon changed slightly to one more inquisitive. He had seen the Timburr start mumbling under his breath, but was unable to catch quite what he was saying. Was he...talking to someone or something? 'Well, whatever.' Hidon thought to himself with a slight shrug of his shoulders. It's not like it mattered to him in the end anyway. As long as this guy was strong and was as fun as he seemed to be, he didn't care if the guy talked to himself or not.

"yeah, Hidon," he replied with his grin returning quickly. "I love it. Glad I don't have to change it." He chuckled slightly at his own joke, but couldn't help but notice as Mack looked him up and down, as though sizing him up. He bit back the instinct to say something along the lines of "like what you see," and instead decided to just move on and get to the fight as quickly as possible. But first....

Hidon was surprised when Mack suddenly responded to him after that weird silence between them in such a loud voice. And on top of that, the Timburr had simply tossed the log at him. His eyes widened and he instinctively reached to catch the log as though he were catching a staff thrown at him. Unfortunately, this log was many times heavier than a regular staff. The log fell into his grip, colliding with his chest; and subsequently knocked him over, pulling him down to the ground. "Gwah! Oof!" he grunted, the log falling down on top of him and pinning him to the floor. "Urgh..." he groaned.

'Geez...well that was an embarrassing start.' he groaned in his mind before reaching up and attempting to push the log off of his body. He definitely didn't want to have to rely on Mack to get him up and out of this. He struggled for a moment, taken by surprise by how heavy this thing was. He had to give credit where it was due; Mack must have some incredible upper body strength if he's carrying this thing with just one hand! Thankfully, he did push it off without help, though. But it did give him something to worry about. In their fight, if Mack managed to get him on the ground, all he'd have to do is drop this log on him and put his weight down onto it, even if it's just by pushing his foot down on top of it. Then he'd be stuck, pinned to the ground. He'd have to be careful of that.

"I-I'm fine, don't worry," Hidon replied, expecting Mack to say something about his fall. He quickly got back to his feet, looking down at the log that had fallen to the ground. Without waiting for Mack, he bent over and attempted to grab the log and lift it up himself. Unfortunately, he could barely even get one end off of the ground with one hand, and it took him both to hoist the entire thing off of the ground. "Urghk...." he grunted with the effort of hefting this thing. "G-geez, it's...even heavier than it looked...." he muttered. He could just about hold onto it. He'd never be able to use it as a tool or weapon.

The Charmander then moved to hand the log back over to Mack again. "Thanks. I guess you're the real deal after all." he said, with another smirk, hoping to play off his rather ungraceful fall.

Mack couldn't help but let out a big laugh at Hidon's attempt to catch the log. It might be considered rude to laugh at others, especially someone you're about to battle, but hey, it was funny. As the Charmander struggled to lift Benjamin from the ground, Mack settled down and started to think about the upcoming battle,

"Let's see here..." Mack thought, scouting out the Charmander, "It seems if I'm not able to beat this guy with my own two hands, I can always rely on Benjamin to take him down! I should be careful though. He seems to have a smart head on his shoulders, he won't be easily tricked into letting me send all who knows how many pounds of Benjamin on his chest. That and he is a fire type. I should watch to make sure that Ben and I don't get burned by his attacks." Mack then sighed to himself, "Let's just hope this guy doesn't use that many ranged attacks, or at least is a terrible aim,"

The Charmander was then able to get back up, using both of his hands to carry the log, and was ready to hand it back. Mack then grinned and took the log out of the Charmander's hands, holding it one handed once again. "Was there any doubt that I was the real deal? Then again, I guess you haven't battled me yet, until now that is. Before we start though, just a few disclaimers. I won't try to injure you in this battle, but If I end up doing so, which knowing me is possible, it's just a part of the game. I'll help with any first aid that I can and call a nurse or someone over, but please don't take it to the elders. Also, while there are no real rules, try not to cause too much collateral damage. My business has been in some trouble lately and I don't need any angry Pokémon trying to press charges against me for damage to property," the Timburr then chuckled, "Then again considering my services maybe the damage would help me out a little. All I'm saying is I don't think it would be good if while smashing each other's faces in we ended up smashing someone's house in. Enough with the rules," Mack then threw his log to the side, the log crashing against the ground with a thud and causing the ground to shake once more, "Let's get started!" Mack then offered his hand to the Charmander,

"Ready to begin?"

OOC: Sorry it took me so long to reply! End of finals, preparing for the holidays, general forgetfulness oh my! Let's just say there was a lot of stuff going on in my life, but I'm back and ready for my first battle!

{Heheh. It's cool. I know the feeling. and sorry for taking so long to get back to you. xD}

Hidon heard Mack's laugh and tried his best to ignore it, though he couldn't prevent that slight blush on his face. Well, in the end it didn't matter, right? After all, this battle was about to end with this Timburr's back on the ground and a Charmander foot planted on his chest. He was definitely going to make sure of that. He was going to find a way to prove that, although Mack was apparently much physically stronger than himself, he was the stronger one when it came to actual battles. After all, that was what was most important, right? Being able to survive a battle to its end and come out the victor? He grinned at the thought; a lesson he'd be more than happy to show this guy. Sure, he looked pretty tough...but it was definitely going to take more than some upper body strength to beat the leader of Team Rising!

He let out a chuckle of his own, nodding over to Mack as the Timburr explained a few of the disclaimers that he wanted to get across. He quickly waved them away, though. "Yeah, yeah," Hidon muttered. "Don't worry, I'll try not to destroy anything while I'm kicking your tail around. And trust me...you won't have to worry about me getting hurt. I don't plan to be the one taking the most damage. And besides, even if we did, it was my battle challenge so I can hardly complain if I get hurt, right?" He then let out a short laugh, putting his arms to his waist and striking a heroic, though obviously-overconfident pose. "Besides, I wouldn't dream of going and crying about some damage to me to anyone. I promise you that I'll be able to take anything you throw at me. So don't be holding back on my account. You've got my word that I won't take anything to anyone. Except for my bragging rights."

Hidon's grin faltered slightly, though, when the Timburr demonstrated his physical superiority once again when he easily tossed the log aside, which resulted in another slight rumble. But it was quickly brought back. "A-anyway, if you want to avoid doing that much damage, then I've got an idea. How about we determine the winner by whoever can keep the other guy pinned down, flat on his back, for, say...five seconds? Then that guy wins. Deal?" he then reached out to accept Mack's extended arm, nodding to him and grasping hold. And he did not hesitate to squeeze it far more tightly than what was necessary. "Either way...you can bet your log that I've been ready to start since I walked over here."

Mack couldn't help but smile at the Charmander's confidence. This was going to be a fun battle indeed. He then realized the Charmander was trying to intimidate him by gripping his hand. "Well, two can play at that game," Mack thought to himself, gripping back with twice the force. "Alright then. Five seconds? Got it," the Timburr replied, "If you're ready to start then..." Mack then quickly transitioned the handshake into a judo throw, throwing the Charmander to the floor by his arm. He then quickly got Hidon into a headlock, trying to pin his shoulders to the ground while watching for Hidon's flaming tail. Mack then begun to count.

"1....2...."

OOC: This is my first time battling. If I make any major mistakes, feel free to point them out

Hidon's confident exterior faltered slightly once again when he suddenly felt Mack's grip tighten even more than his own hand had. He winced slightly at Mack's superior grip and his own slackened as a result. But thankfully, the handshake did not last very much longer. A moment later, the Timburr had reached forward, grabbed his arm, he felt his leg get kicked out from beneath his body. Then his body was lifted off of the ground, tumbling over the Timburr's arm, before getting smacked onto the ground on his back a moment later. He let out a grunt of pain from the throw, taking a moment to recover from the sudden, unexpected attack. And as if that weren't bad enough, he felt the Timburr's arms wrap around his jaw, enabling a headlock that kept him in place, pinned down already!

"Mngh...!" Hidon grunted, struggling against Mack's superior upper body strength. He struggled and raised an arm, attempting to drive his elbow into the side of Mack's head in a desperate attempt to get the timburr to release his grip and let him go. He couldn't let himself lose their little spar before he had even been able to land a single clean hit!

As Mack kept the headlock locked in, he couldn't help but feel disappointed,

"This can't be it! He talked so much game, and I swear I saw something in him. Tell me he'll at least try to fight back!"

A few sharp blows to the head from the elbow of Hidon answered his plea, one of them causing his grip on the head of Hidon to loosen. The Timburr then smiled and thought,

"Good, he still has some fight left!"

The Timburr then attempted to loosen his hold, but also attempted to land a quick strike to the temple of the Charmander, an act of intimidation then anything else.

Hidon felt his elbow connect right into his target. And then, a moment later, much to his great relief, he felt the Timburr's headlock slacken. He found his chance, and he was not going to miss out on his opportunity to take it! He renewed his attempts to squirm free of Mack's grip, though he did end up feeling a sudden blow to his right temple. He winced slightly and let out a small gasp of pain, but was at least able to finally pull his head free.

Once the headlock had been lost, Hidon quickly jumped back to his feet, though he did still feel the dull pain in his sensitive temple. But he shook it off quickly enough, ignoring it. This was nothing compared to what he was about to make the Timburr feel now that he was free again! He grinned slightly, looking confidently at Mack. "You got me good there, but now that I'm free again, you're about to see what I can really do!" Then, without another moment's hesitation, he pulled his head back, thrust it forward, and unleashed a barrage of small fireballs using his Ember attack. Of course, the embers would not be able to cause any kind of damage to anything nearby, so he felt comfortable using it right here and now.

"Oh Mew," Mack thought to himself as the fireballs flew at him. This was the exact situation he wanted to avoid, he now had to think fast to avoid damage! Quickly, looking to his right, he spotted his trusty log Benjamin. Wasting no time, he ran over to the log at top speed, hoping to use it for some sort of defense.

Hidon smirked slightly when he saw that his Ember attack was flying straight at his opponent, just as he'd planned. The Fighting-type seemed to scramble, looking for any kind of way to get out of the attack. And unfortunately, it seemed like he'd succeeded. Bruce had managed to scramble away, heading toward the left. The Charmander growled and followed the Timburr closely...only to realize exactly what the Muscular Pokémon was planning to do. Unfortunately, he caught on too late. Bruce was successful in reaching his log, avoiding his flames completely at the same time.

This wasn't good. If his opponent was going to use his log as a weapon, this fight was going to get much tougher. Still, maybe if he could keep this muscular Pokémon at a distance, maybe he wouldn't have to worry about it so much. with that thought in the back of his mind, Hidon opened his maw again. Once more, a barrage of miniature flames emerged from his throat, threatening to blast his opponent from afar. As he unleashed his Ember attack, he began taking hesitant steps backward. He definitely did not want to end up in that log's swinging range. He'd likely take some heavy hits from that thing...and it'd be even worse if Bruce was actually able to even successfully use that log to stop his ember attacks.