Fire in the Fog

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{Energy: 25 - 10 (entry) = 15}

"Ugh, I can't believe I'm here again. Why did I even come here? I've had nothing but terrible luck." the Charmander growled to himself as he slowly made his way through the thick fog that always seemed to cover this gloomy hill. It was always so difficult to see anything in this fog, which was only made worse by the fact that literally everything here looked exactly the same. You would be lucky to come across a misshapen stone resting around here somewhere to use as a landmark to figure out when exactly you completed that circle you probably started walking in. It was probably not such a big deal for a Pokémon who was particularly careful about planning their trip. But unfortunately for him, Hidon was definitely not one of those Pokémon.

Truth be told, the Charmander knew exactly why he was here. This place had been nothing but one disaster after another. He had been here twice before and both times it ended up defeating him somehow. On his first trip, he'd hoped to gather supplies and find himself a teammate. But he failed in that regard and walked back home relatively empty-handed. The second time, he had ended up getting caught in a trap set by that blasted Absol he hated so much and getting thrashed, resulting in him skulking home badly damaged. He counted himself lucky that he hadn't met any more feral threats on his way out, as he wouldn't have stood a chance in such condition.

He couldn't let this place beat him. This was considered around the Guild to be one of the easiest feral-infested places to traverse! He couldn't let this place kick him around so much. He had to conquer this dungeon...if only for the sake of his own pride. And so, he continued walking without looking back while holding his flame-lit tail out in front of him like a flashlight. His tail thankfully allowed him to see farther in this fog, increasing his range of vision. Unfortunately, though, it also came with a side-effect. It would more easily attract other Pokémon to his position like a beacon. But he was fine with that of course. After all...he wanted to beat some ferals while he was here and get stronger.

He still couldn't let Pilot get the better of him, could he?

Energy: 20

Though it was absolutely hilarious watching Hidon struggle to comprehend the reason as to why none of his fire attacks had the desired result, it grew a bit tiring to simply toy with him until he managed to grasp the concept of Flash Fire. "This is fun and all, but if you aren't going to hit me with all the firepower you've got like a real man, then I'm gonna have to end this!" the fox teased with a knowing smirk. How could he not see that any attack without fire would connect with no problem? It's not hard. Just, I don't know, take a swing at me or something. Anything but be some thick-headed berserker going out with fireballs ablazing.

Suddenly, Cinder stopped wagging her tails and took up a ready position. Almost as if the starting signal of a race went off, she bolted into a beeline headed directly for the Charmander's rotund body. Though it lacked the power of an elemental move, she intended to throw her entire weight directly into the strike to knock him over. Of course, she hadn't even considered how off balanced she would be should he realize what was coming and dodge. But hey, counterattacks are worthless if they don't hurt you at all, right? Though a hasty and reckless way to try and end the sparring match, she didn't necessarily see it as that big of a risk at the time.

Hidon felt his face warm up slightly as his face turned red in embarrassment at the taunts and teases Cinder was throwing his way. No matter how hard he hit her, she just seemed to enjoy it rather than take damage...and she was throwing all of that right back into his face. what could he do? He only had one other move at his disposal that he could use, but what if she just laughed it off as well? If he threw his Dragon Rush punch into her and she just shook it off, he'd be left completely vulnerable. At that point, he would have no choice but to surrender. And he wasn't sure that he wanted to bring himself to that level just yet....

Before he could continue planning out what he was going to do, he realized something. Cinder's tail had suddenly stopped wagging and she looked...ready to pounce. Before the thought could register properly in his mind, she was already bolting forward! "Wha-?" he started, but was cut off as the Vulpix's body slammed mightily into his own. "URGHK!" he coughed as her full-body tackle worked exactly like she hoped it would. He was taken off-guard and his body was thrown off of his feet, getting practically dragged to the ground on his back by Cinder's strength and weight. "D-darn it..." he coughed, trying to get back up again, but having to take it slow since he felt slightly winded fromt he impact.

Energy: 20 + 1 (new page) = 21

Regaining her balance and sitting down again, Cinder gently placed her paw on Hidon's chest. "If we were playing by your rules, this match would already be over! Now come on, this is just sad. I thought all guild members were supposed to be really tough! Kinda disappointing, but I'll take it. After all, I never knew what to expect in the first place!" she said with a cheery tone. It was a bit of a letdown that her opponent wasn't as difficult as she'd hoped, but at least she had the experience under her belt now. In fact, to give him a bit more of a chance, the Vulpix took her paw off of his stomach, backed up, and got into another ready position.

"Here's a tip: my ability Flash Fire absorbs all of your Fire type attacks. Whatever you throw at me that has fire in it, I'll just shake it off like it was a tiny shove!" the fox taunted with an innocent sound to her voice. "I'm not even sure how you didn't see it coming earlier! Anyways... How about you get up and we finish this the right way, with you knowing exactly what will and won't work? I'd much rather prefer for this to be a fun fight instead of me knocking you around for a few minutes."

MCLikeANinja carried out 10 launched of one Pricklemist Hill :

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{Energy: 15 + 1 (new page) = 16}

Before the Charmander could manage to push himself back up again, he felt something press against his chest, causing him to pause for the moment. He looked up to see that the Vulpix had already placed a paw upon him, pressing him to the ground. The worst part about this whole deal, however, was that she seemed so relaxed about it. She just casually sat beside him, pressing her paw down on top of him, and pinning him there. He could feel the heat as his face started to turn slightly red while she spoke; she was absolutely right. Had they been fighting by his pin rules requirement, he would have just lost the fight without even putting up any kind of real struggle!

The blush only deepened as the Vulpix taunted him further. She released him and backed away, tossing another couple of taunts his way. He couldn't stand for this any longer. He needed to show this girl what an Exploration Team leader could really do...!

He shook his head as she finally removed her paw and quickly scrambled back to his feet again. "They are!" he growled back, but then quickly realized that that could be taken to exclude him. So he shook his head again and continued, "I-I mean...I am! I-I'm plenty tough!" He looked over at her with a glare, trying to figure out what he should do first in this situation. If she had Flash Fire like she claimed she did, then it was no wonder why his attacks did nothing before. In that case, he was left with one damage-dealing move. So he would probably have to make a lot of improvised attacks if he was going to win.

"Alright...y'know what? Forget it. You want tough? You wanna feel how strong I can be? Then you got it!" he called over to her. Almost immediately after finishing his statement, he began his charge. He dashed as quickly as his feet would allow, headed straight for the Vulpix. As he ran, an bluish aura began to flare up around his body. As it did, it began to resemble the head of a dragon around him. But that wasn't all. Once he was less than a few feet away from Cinder, the aura shifted; it now centered around his right arm, which he swung forward and attempted to slam a Dragon Rush punch into the left side of her face as he tried to smash her into the ground.

Digizel carried out 10 launched of one Pricklemist Hill :

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Energy: 21 - 16 (rolls' results) + 15 (Sitrus Berry consumed) = 20

She couldn't help but giggle at how awkward he was at the moment. A weak retort and a blush? Heh, and I thought he couldn't get any redder... Cinder thought to herself. She shook the thought aside as the lizard continued on about how he was tough. "Now we're talking! Give me your best shot, because I bet you won't!" the Vulpix teased. When he began charging an attack that summoned blue flames around his arm, though, she began to have doubts. The only blue flames she had ever seen were her blue wisps from Will-o-Wisp, and those didn't look the same. Along with the aura around Hidon before he generated the attack, this was getting very fishy. By the time that she decided to move out of the way, she was too late: the punch connected with her cheek and stung worse than a Beedrill. To make matters worse, the angle of the punch forced her jaw to hit the ground for a split second and caused her to stagger backwards.

"Rrgh...!" the vulpine Pokémon grunted as she scampered away from Hidon, slightly disoriented by the jarring impact of the blow. "Ow, you really do deliver when you say you will..." she mumbled as she rubbed her cheek gently with her paw. Luckily, she backed up enough to bump into the leaves of a bush. Smirking, she quickly rummaged through the shrubbery for any berries that she could eat and for any items that could prove useful later. Better safe than sorry. Jackpot! she celebrated as two Sitrus Berries, two White Gummis, and some sort of seed brushed against her muzzle. Cinder quickly began chewing on one Sitrus Berry, shoveling the rest of the items in her bag.

"Sorry about that, Hidon. When you hit me, I saw some items that I might need later." she said. It was quite the lame excuse for digging around in a bush for an item that may or may not be considered cheating, but she didn't care; food is food, right? There was little chance he could see that it was a berry anyways. What were the odds? "Anyways, that was a good try, but you can't use that move forever!" With that, Cinder prepared another Fire Blast. With the boosted power from Flash Fire and the healing powers of the Sitrus Berry, she felt ready to unleash the biggest wall of flames that she'd ever released. Still nothing compared to the move's full potential and probably not enough to defeat her adversary, but enough to give him something to remember her by.