Environmental Appropriation

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What would have perhaps been a somewhat tolerable area if not for its extreme saturation with water, Cattail Marsh served as a unique mix of unpleasant traits. It was difficult to navigate and made it practically impossible to avoid getting dirty, and the landscape wasn't particularly appealing to the eyes either. It was nothing special to look at, though some of the inhabitants supposedly had a tendency to put up a bit of a light show during the nights. It was daytime despite what the low light from the cloudy sky may have suggested, so the flashing lights of illumise and volbeat were nowhere to be found. Perhaps later into the day, this would change, but that remained to be seen. Besides, this wasn't a primary concern, at least for a certain blue-ringed umbreon who had made her way into the marsh.

Krikka despised the disgusting, soggy ground, and she knew it would only get worse as they ventured further into the environment and inevitably came across larger quantities of water. Thus far, she hadn't had to get her fur wet and dirty, but this would surely change in due time. She stared ahead into the awful marshland, silently dreading her decision to come here despite having reasons. She knew there was something going on in the area that had to do with one of the warring deities, but she had no interest in such matters. Furthermore, even if she had decided to take interest, she certainly wouldn't have chosen to assist Zygarde. But, alas, this day was not one for concern over someone else's battles. On this day, the umbreon had a different goal in mind.

What was her goal in coming to such a place that she despised? It wasn't to assist in the war, nor was it to see the light show. She had just acquired a new... asset, and, simply put, she wished to test his capabilities. A semi-aquatic environment seemed like a great place to test the limitations of a buizel. He had already proven that, at the moment, he was currently lacking in combat and skills in general. With this in mind, Krikka wanted to see if he could at least perform well in an environment tailored to him. She needed to get a good idea of his limitations before she could start making any efforts to help him overcome them. Plus, since she doubted it would be easy to get him to surpass her in anything on land, she was considering playing to his strengths and training him specifically for the water so as to give him a distinct use.

Krikka assumed this environment wouldn't be particularly unpleasant for Solus, but as for herself, she was not looking forward to it. She had stopped in front of a large body of water, knowing it was a sign that they were entering the true marsh. The water seemed shallow enough to walk through, at least for the time being, but that didn't mean she was eager to do so. She looked down at her reflection in the water in front of her, seeing her own displeasure with the situation. She then looked back ahead, hoping to find a way around getting herself dirty. Aside from cattails and the occasional tree, there wasn't much. "So, how well can you swim?" she questioned mostly out of curiosity. Swimming didn't seem required, at least at the current time, but she still wanted to know. Perhaps this was a question she should have asked before deciding to take her new buizel out for a test run. It wouldn't have mattered either way, though, as she fully intended to teach him how to swim if he couldn't already. Swimming was the best way for him to have an immediate use, so he needed to be good at it.

Fortunately, Solus was quick enough to dodge the attack, though whether he would be able to continue this remained to be seen. Krikka knew he had surprisingly high endurance, but the same was clearly true for the croagunk. In fact, it was entirely possible that Solus would simply exhaust himself before being able to defeat the opponent, even if he somehow managed to maintain his distance the entire time. It was unlikely that he would keep his advantage in the first place, but even if he did, the odds still seemed against him. The fight surely would have been made far easier for him if he just had an effective way to harm opponents, but alas, his arsenal was limited to a relatively weak attack and rocks. Just normal rocks. Krikka wasn't even sure when he had picked them up or why, but he most certainly had, and she was not interested in questioning it. In fact, he had also picked up some other junk at some point. She would probably need to have a talk with him about picking random things up off the ground.

The umbreon was interested in seeing what other tactics her subordinate would come up with to keep his distance and harm his foe, but sadly, she found herself to be disappointed. Rather than do something new, Solus struck the ground with a sonic boom once more, using the splash to flee just as he had done last time. This was a tactic he seemed to favor, but it had been used twice now in the same fight. It would surely start losing its effectiveness if he kept up with it, and in fact, it already was. The croagunk seemed to have expected the attack, easily avoiding taking any damage from it by simply ceasing his pursuit momentarily. Of course, the point of this strategy wasn't to hit the foe in the first place, but it was still clearly the beginning of the end. The frog was starting to adapt to the tricks, so the advantage Solus currently held was going to slowly deteriorate unless he figured out something new to throw at him. Unfortunately, it seemed the buizel's next move was equally unoriginal: another rock.

He probably intended to do more than just throw a single rock, but he had already shown this strategy before, just like the last one. The foe was clearly intelligent enough, at least in terms of fighting, and he had already demonstrated that he could adapt to patterns in an opponent's fighting style. If things kept going in this direction, Krikka was fairly certain that the fight was already over. This didn't mean she was going to do anything to intervene before she had to, but what little hope she had for her buizel to win was dwindling. It wasn't entirely his own fault that he was capable of so little diversity; he was weak and had very few useful moves, and he had equally few useful items. He was making the best of what he had available to him, so there was only so much criticism he could be given in this situation. Krikka was still impressed at him having done so well thus far, even if his loss seemed inevitable by this point. He was actually at a disadvantage from the beginning, being forced to step out of the terrain in which he would have had a natural advantage. Had he been allowed a fight in the deeper water, it seemed fairly probable that he would actually have won.

Nonetheless, win or lose, this fight had still given Krikka exactly what she'd wanted from the beginning. She now knew the buizel's weak areas that needed patching up, and she could also see his strong points. More specifically, he seemed to have one strong point, that being his strategic prowess. While it was nothing to celebrate, he clearly had at least a bit of aptitude for thinking, which meant there was hope for him yet. However, the most immediate problem that clearly needed fixing was his lack of diversity in attacks. Krikka contemplated buying him a TM or two as she watched in silence, wondering how capable a fighter he would be with some proper moves backing him up. Knowing his inconsistency, it seemed possible that better attacks would be about as much of a hindrance to him as they would be helpful, as he would probably find some way to mess something up or hurt himself with them, at least in Krikka's mind. However, the gain would outweigh the risks... probably.

Raw power of attacks wouldn't be Krikka's main focus regardless, at least for this particular specimen. His primary area of potential was clearly his mind, and she felt more qualified to teach someone to fight than anything else, so it worked out well. Besides, thinking would be useful in other areas as well, so it would obviously be the most beneficial thing to invest in. Plus, it would make the buizel more tolerable to commit to idle chatter with, which was something that Krikka very much wanted since the two would be spending a great deal of time together. She didn't like having to speak to an idiot who barely knew what she was talking about half the time, even if he had justification for being so inept. He was clearly intelligent, but he was sorely lacking in general knowledge, and that made it a bit hard to make small talk with him. On top of this, it had just recently been revealed to Krikka that he couldn't read, which meant she couldn't even bring him to a library to help teach him basic things. She most certainly intended to teach him how to read, then she would lock him in a room filled with various books and articles on whatever she wanted him to learn and just leave him there until he finished going over it all. Probably.

This isn't going to work, Solus thought, drawing his arm back in preparation to throw the Gravelrock in his hand. He's ready. I've immediately become predictable, and I'm out of ideas. Solus's earlier optimism was suddenly changed by the realisation that his opponent had already worked out his attack patterns. Admittedly, they weren't that hard to figure out, but the buizel's options were limited and he had to work with what he had. Now that croagunk was ready for both the ranged pincer and the "Sonic Boom the ground" tactic, his options were even further limited. Nonexistent, really.

Maybe I should have kept Krikka's spike, he thought as he hurled the Gravelrock in an arc at his opponent. He followed it up with a Sonic Boom, as the manoeuvre prescribed. Even if he doesn't manage to dodge both of those, I won't be able to pull this off again. No close combat options. Once he gets close I won't be able to use the rocks anyway, so scratch those off the list. I'm going to get cornered eventually, and no amount of improvised attacks is going to get me out of that. The buizel glanced at the area of deeper water, and then at Krikka. She wanted to see a fight but surely, at this point, she would have realised that Solus was going to lose. If he fled to the deeper waters and thus forced the croagunk to change targets and attack Krikka... Krikka would win that fight, the croagunk would be dealt with, and Solus wouldn't have to suffer a violent beating from the poison-fighting type.

No, instead he'd get a violent beating from Krikka for wussing out of the fight and making her deal with the problem on her own. But, honestly, Solus thought that he might actually prefer that outcome as opposed to suffering an assault by Goro. Why? Simple; he knows for a fact that Krikka won't kill him outright. At least, not on purpose. He was definitely sure he'd be relatively safer with Krikka than with this very angry stranger whom he had insulted with the explicit purpose of enraging him. I'm going to get so much grief for this... With all this in mind, Solus dove for the water, with every intention of escaping his adversaries comfortable range. This single act was a greatly condemning one. By doing this, he was forfeiting a fight—that was lost pride. He was giving up his opportunity to reclaim Xeno's necklace from Krikka, and thusly an opportunity to (in his own eyes) begin to redeem himself. It made him look weak. It made him look like a coward. It put him on Krikka's bad side—possibly even more so than if he had properly lost the fight by taking a beating from Goro. And all of this loss wasn't even to spare him from taking a beating; it was all payment just so he could take a beating from someone he knew probably wouldn't outright kill him.

As Goro slowly approached the Buizel in front of him, his steps were wary and tense, the Croagunk expecting and ready to deal with any sort of projectile his opponent wanted to pitch at him. The rock pitching he wasn't worried about, honestly; the Sonic Boom was the real attack here. It was obviously the Buizel's go-to move, at least in his last few encounters. It was the technique he went to when he briefly engaged the Poliwhirl, and he even went to a certain length to mask it with a rock pitch last time. While it didn't hurt too much, the move was fast and hard to react to, but at this point, Goro knew one was coming, so he didn't need to react as much as he needed to preemptively dodge the attack.

And if his opponent was as predictable as he was a moment ago, then his attack pattern would be similar to what he tried last time. Fetch a rock, pitch it, and fire a Sonic Boom while Goro was preoccupied with that. It wasn't a bad strategy, really, but if the Buizel used it over and over again, then it was only a matter of time before Goro learned to deal with it. At this point, he was expecting the maneuver, as the Sea Weasel Pokémon had already grown stale in his escape tactic - Goro didn't expect him to have another way to launch a Sonic Boom without it being obvious. After all, if he just fired one off normally, there wasn't much stopping Goro from just evading it.

True to form, once he crossed a certain threshold, the Buizel in front of him immediately wound his arm back in order to pitch another stone. Goro hadn't seen his opponent retrieve it form his bag; he must have done it while he made his escape. His pitch was strong and fast, launching the rock in an arc before immediately launching another Sonic Boom directly at Goro. He had only an instant to take in the scene in front of him; the rock coming down from the air at Goro, while the shock-wave attack trailed behind it in a very straightfoward manner. Just from his experience last time, Goro knew he could tank both attacks and trudge forward, but there was still the sleek fox Pokémon waiting for him after he dealt with this particular enemy, and the last thing he wanted to do was sustain too much damage before he moved onto the more dangerous of the two. If the technique was by itself, then Goro could easily duck it or roll out of the way, but if he tried that now he'd get a rock to the head for his trouble. The pincer attack was nearly identical to the one Solus had used before... but this time Goro had an idea for it.

Dealing with ranged attacks was not a strength of his. It was obviously something to work on, but Goro had no natural tools to deal with them; really, the only moves he had were damaging abilities or ways to wear down his opponent while he beat on them, so there wasn't much he could immediately do, besides live and learn. Instead of evading both attacks, Goro tucked his right fist back, cocking it at his hip, the centre of his multi-colored fist glowing for just a moment, while he eyed the rock flying toward him. He ignored the Sonic Boom flying toward him entirely, squaring himself against the incoming stone projectile and turning his hips and torso toward it, his right hand suddenly shooting forward in a crude uppercut aimed at the rock, curled fist shining with a hue that betrayed its nature as a Drain Punch attack. It was the most powerful tool in his arsenal, a very strong Fighting-type attack that had the benefit of restoring some vitality with each use - provided he struck something he could steal it from. Obviously, the rock aimed at his head wouldn't grant him any recovery, but Drain Punch was still a strong Fighting-move, and that's what mattered here.

Fist met stone harshly, the Fighting-type move clashing against the pitched rock for just a moment before one gave way to the other; The projectile immediately shattered against his fist, stone shattering into dust and debris against his defense. There was an immediate protest of pain that shot through his hand and down his arm, but Goro ignored it in favor of dealing with the next step of the Buizel's pincer manuever, immediately withdrawing his extended arm to join the other in a cross-arm block just before the following shock-wave crashed against him. The Sonic Boom was noticeably more of a strain to withstand this time; it had landed right where the other one did, causing Goro to stumble under the blow. He'd taken two steps backward under the force before he managed to steady himself, planting his feet and raising to head to take in his enemy. Even if he saw the pincer attack coming, he didn't have much to deal with it. Better than takin' both hits, at any rate. Now it's my turn!

Goro raced forward as soon as he could, pressing forward to close the distance between the Buizel in front of him as quickly as possible. Still, despite his best efforts, the Buizel in front of him was quicker, immediately turning around darting right back toward the deeper water. By the time Goro crossed the distance to where Solus stood before, the slender Water-type had dived right back into the safer waters, fleeing from Goro entirely. Was he... forfeiting the fight? There was no way Goro was going to follow him in there, and they both knew that.

"What-- yer not serious." Goro immediately grew heated, stomping one foot as he stared at the Buizel in deep waters. His eyes were wide and shocked, traces of indignant anger masked by a dumbfounded expression; truly, the Croagunk looked as if someone just told him Christmas was canceled. Their little scuffle was brief and entirely lackluster; Goro had took a shallow cut from a rock to the arm and two weak little Sonic Booms, while Solus had suffered a sucker punch to the jaw and ran at the first sign of further damage. His voice was just as imploring as it was furious. "We aint even got started yet. Yer just gonna - fuckin' - yer not serious!"

As expected, Solus continued with another repeated maneuver, attacking with multiple sources at once so as to make them more difficult to avoid. The croagunk seemed to be getting the hang of it already, calmly facing the dual attack down and showing he had already figured out how to deal with it. However, even so, it seemed the best he could muster was to simply block the attacks rather than actually avoid them. Still, in the end, after breaking the stone and trying to protect himself against the shock wave, he seemed to have sustained very little damage. As a whole, his defense was clearly successful, which meant Solus had lost if he couldn't think of any new strategies. Even if he could, it seemed doubtful that it would make much of a difference in the outcome of the fight. The inevitable winner was becoming increasingly clear, if it hadn't already been obvious in the first place. Solus had certainly put up more of a fight than expected, but he was out of tricks. It was only a matter of time before he was caught, and what happened from there would not be fun for him.

Or he could pick the alternative option of simply surrendering the fight, which wasn't something Krikka had expected him to do with the necklace on the line. Her eyes widened slightly as she watched the buizel dive back into the water, fleeing and breaching the silent agreement to keep to the shallows. He surely knew this meant he was forfeiting, which meant there was no point in allowing the "fight" to continue. There was also no point in allowing the croagunk to continue insulting him, which meant this was the point at which Krikka would finally intervene. "He's given up," she spoke clearly and audibly as she strutted calmly toward the croagunk, demonstrating clearly that her distance had been a courtesy, not a sign of fear. She wondered what he would do now that the fight was over, but it wasn't of much concern to her. As long as he stopped harassing her pet for a fight that he was clearly not interested in continuing, she didn't care what he did.

"Now, kindly stop antagonizing my buizel," came a relatively simple command directed toward the croagunk. She wasn't exactly defending Solus, as she was disappointed in his cowardice, but he was still her buizel, which meant only she was allowed to demean him for no reason. And, if he was no longer interested in fighting, then the croagunk was most certainly not permitted to beat on him. Again, that was something only his master was allowed to do, and she wasn't interested in sharing him, especially with some random stranger. If the croagunk still wanted a fight, she supposed that meant she would have to entertain him herself. She would certainly have words for her subordinate for making her deal with this situation on his behalf, but for now, she was more concerned with the potential foe. She was prepared for the possibility of him simply rushing her, though she doubted he would actually be stupid enough to attempt such a thing. After all, he had to have been worn out and hurting, at least a bit, so getting into another fight was clearly not a good idea for him at the moment.

Then again, he was clearly the aggressive type, and while he was sharp enough when it came to actually fighting, that didn't necessarily mean he was intelligent in general. He certainly didn't talk like an intelligent individual, nor did he behave like one. The umbreon decided to prepare herself for an attack despite how obviously foolish it would have been to confront her, having decided that this croagunk was a bit of a wildcard. Still, she wasn't going to worry about him unless he gave her a reason to, which was why she turned her attention toward Solus, walking slowly toward him. She didn't intend to enter the deep water, but rather, she was placing herself near the croagunk so as to show that her buizel could feel free to safely come back to her without having to worry about being attacked. Now that he had admitted defeat, there was no use in allowing him to be beaten by some random aggro punk. If she wanted to teach him a lesson for being a wuss, that was something she preferred to do on her own.

She wasn't entirely sure if she even wanted to punish him for backing out of the fight, though. After all, his pride had surely taken a hit already and he had lost out on a chance to get Xeno's necklace back. This alone was quite the punishment, even if he wasn't feeling much physical pain from the ordeal. It had surely damaged his pride, and for someone who had made it so very evident how prideful he was, that was surely already punishment enough. But it wasn't a question of whether he needed to be punished so much as if Krikka wanted to punish him. The answer was yes, because she was a sadistic psychopath who was in a particularly bad mood after having her fur sullied by some random glorified poliwag who'd decided to lay their big ugly hands on her. Yes, she was still upset about that, and she still cared more about her fur than anything else. Was she shallow? Absolutely.

Even with the annoyance at having her precious coat assaulted by the environment, and the disappointment in seeing Solace behave in such a cowardly manner, though, the outing had still been a success so far. Krikka had learned quite a bit about the direction in which she wanted to go with teaching Solus, and she now had some good ideas for what to do to achieve her desired results. The situation really wasn't of much more use to her, so she wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. She intended to waltz right past the croagunk unless interrupted, then simply wait for her buizel to come back to her. And if she was interrupted, she hoped for the pesky frog's sake that he could handle more than a sonic boom and a couple rocks. She really wasn't in much of a mood to fight, so she intended to end it quickly if he actually decided to be so bold as to attempt to assault her. Normally, she would have held some interest in toying with an opponent, but at this very moment she just wasn't feeling it. The environment was really making it difficult to enjoy things.

Solus let out a sigh with a mix of relief and exasperation. Relief in that he no longer had to fight with Goro. Exasperation towards himself, having just given up on a fight that carried so much weight. He had just forfeited everything, hurt his own pride, and very likely condemned himself to a future beating in order to avoid a beating. The only apparent justification was the random element that Goro presented. Alright, it's official. I hate myself now. The buizel returned slowly to Krikka's side, keeping his head low and his eyes on the ground. He'd experience defeat before, but this time it wasn't caused his own inability or the superiority of his opponent; he had chosen this result.

His self-depreciating thoughts were reinforced further upon hearing Krikka address him as her buizel. He was under no delusions about where he stood in relations to Krikka, but this reminder served as an additional weight to bear. It reminded him that it was his own doing that put him in this position as Krikka's property in the first place. Man, I am such a failure. Upon reaching Krikka, Solus sat down in the shallows next to her. Somewhat ironically, he did feel safer next to her. He doubted she'd let the croagunk get close enough to be an actual threat to either of them. Without looking up, Solus whispered a genuine sounding "sorry" just loud enough for the umbreon next to him to hear. And it was, in fact, genuine.

He had not only failed to achieve his own goals, he had failed Krikka as well. She wanted him to deal with Goro and he couldn't. Whether he would admit or not, Krikka's opinion of him was in recent on of the most vital things to him. He had an unprecedented need to impress her—or at the very least not disappoint her—and so far he was doing a very poor job of doing so. Despite her cruel and sadistic outward demeanour, she had—intentionally or not—shown on multiple occasions some degree of concern for Solus. Even if it was justbecause it was only natural to protect and take care of her property, it was something Solus had rarely experienced before. This added on to the guilt he felt when he failed her. "I'll... Make up for it. Somehow..."

Goro watched with his jaw hanging open as the Buizel slinked back to his companion -- apparently he was her Buizel, no idea how that worked -- with a quiet, murmured apology and a freshly timid demeanor. What the hell had just happened? He was seconds away from tearing into the little runt before he just decided to bow out of their fight and scuttle back to his partner, or master, or whatever the fuck they were together. Did he think Goro was just going to let them leave? Or was this strange vixen truly so strong that she could own another Pokémon and have him so convinced of his safety? What had happened to the confident and cocky Buizel that stared him down across the flat lands as he launched his pincer attacks and danced around his charges? Was he so easily cowed by a little danger? A profound sense of frustration and disappointment thrummed through the Fighting-type as the pair of travelers gathered themselves after the Buizel's surrender. That was the sorriest excuse fer a fight that I ever saw.

Dimly, he heard the black fox utter something to him, a confirmation of Solus' forfeit, but in his fury, they washed over him completely. He wanted nothing more than to bum-rush the Sea Weasel Pokémon and tear into him for the insult, but all of the sudden his partner was present, strutting onto the scene as if she had nothing to worry about. Her demeanor was calm and confident, the muck and mud marring her pristine black fur having seemingly no effect on her. All of the sudden, he was terribly unsure if he wanted to tangle with this particular Pokémon. There must have been a reason the Buizel suddenly turned into a spineless little shit in her presence. Before, he'd been cracking insults and dancing around the Croagunk's attacks, but now his head was bowed and his eyes glued to the muddy soil in either shame and fear. Either way was cause for concern. Goro's eyes tracked the Umbreon as she strode toward him casually, his body tense, waiting for an incoming attack or provocation, but... nothing happened. The pair strode directly past him, all of the sudden unconcerned with the Pokémon that had mauled a Poliwhirl and attacked one of them. Who the fuck acted like this? The audacity and arrogance in their actions shocked and, admittedly, intimidated the Croagunk enough that they strode right past the Poison-fighting hybrid in their unhurried gait, a minuscule shudder washing over Goro as his head turned to track the fox passing him. For a split-second, he considered sucker-punching this one, too, but her unconcerned conduct and stifling presence stilled him into inaction. Was this... really happening? Was he about to get punked out on his own territory?

No. No, this wasn't going to fly. Goro ran people out of his stretch of the marshlands - that was his thing. He had no patience for tourists or travelers, and especially ones who were a hamper on his fun. Not only were they trespassing on his territory, but they murdered a Poliwhirl on his land, which was just a complete waste. Not only did they have the nerve to strut around the place like they owned it, but then they decide to just... play with him? Have a fun little scrap and bow out of it when it didn't go their way? Goro was a lot of things, but he was no coward. Not like the little weasel who thought he was hot shit one minute and turned into some wimpy pet the next. These guys were asking for a beating, and he was of a mind to give it to them, his indignant fury returning to him.

"I don't think so, lady. This is my swamp. And not only are ya not welcome, but ya went n' pissed me off, playing all coy with yer little pet weasel." The Croagunk turned to fully face the Dark-type fox that had so casually strutted by him, fists curled tight and posture screaming hostility. His voice was hot and angry, the fervent want for conflict obvious in the Poison-type's tone. Nothing had changed, here. He found intruders in his swamp, and before he'd even happened upon their little scuffle he'd needed a fix. Now, after getting faked out by the cowardly little Buizel, there was no way Goro was going to allow these punks to waltz right out of his territory without a sharp lesson in manners and pain. The only difference between now and then, was that now Goro was furious. Never in his life had he met a pair of travelers so contemptibly obnoxious and arrogant. "This ain't no game to be played. Yer both gettin' it. And yer first, girlie. Sic yer little Buizel on me if ya want, but either way both of ya are learnin' a lesson today."

With his challenge laid bare, Goro squared his posture and raised his gaze to assess his opponents. The Buizel he had pegged by now; he was a dancing-type fighter, the kind of Pokémon to avoid and evade all attacks and strike back with superior range and tactics. It was admittedly a bad match-up for him unless he could get in close and get lucky with his hits. And the Water-type always had the option of taking to deeper waters, but now there were three players on the field, and he obviously felt safe by his master's side. The fox he had no idea what to expect from; all he knew was what was obvious - she was stronger than the Buizel, and obviously wore the pants in the relationship. Judging just from her coloring, he'd guess she was a darkling, but that was the best case scenario for him and a dangerous assumption. The best thing for him to do now was to do the only thing he knew how. After a moment of steadying himself, the Croagunk stepped forward with his fists raised in an obvious challenge, his furious visage tracking the fox Pokémon in front of him keenly.

It seemed Solus got the general idea that he was safe and would no longer have to fight as he made his way back to the side of his master. He was getting used to his his position fairly quickly, which pleased Krikka if nothing else. His rather pathetic demeanor and insistent apology almost made up for his disappointing lack of spine. Perhaps he wouldn't receive any punishment after all, but that remained to be seen. She certainly wasn't going to beat him in front of the foe he'd just forfeited to; even Krikka wasn't quite that cruel. With that in mind, she decided to go ahead and get a move on, intending to simply leave the croagunk behind without another word. She had no personal grudge against him even though he had attacked her subordinate, so she was perfectly content with simply leaving him be. Plus, she wanted to hurry up and finish with this outing since she wasn't a big fan of the marsh thus far.

She gave a sigh of disappointment directed toward Solus, but aside from that, she said nothing on the topic. This was partially because she found her attention being demanded elsewhere before she could think to say anything. She glanced in the direction of the croagunk as he began speaking, ranting about how this was his swamp and they weren't welcome within. He then went on to proclaim the obvious, that he was upset, neglecting to give a genuine explanation as to why in the process. After all, he had been upset before even interacting with Solus, so that clearly wasn't the reason behind it. Perhaps he was just having a bad day, but either way, the umbreon wasn't interested in humoring him. She had better things to do than waste her time and energy dispatching some pest who seemed to think he owned the swamp. Sure, perhaps it would have been satisfying to beat on him and teach him some humility, but it seemed... beneath her, and she was already fed up with pointless fighting for the day.

Then the angry little frog made a mistake, one that could not simply be ignored. Krikka slowly turned to face him, her gaze meeting his with an ever-so-slightly annoyed expression upon her face. "Girlie?" she spoke in a questioning manner, glaring at the creature who was so bold as to speak out against her in such a manner. She didn't care how pissed off he was or what kind of warped sense of entitlement he felt toward the marsh, but she wasn't going to allow him to think he was permitted to speak to her in such a manner, threatening her and referring to her in such an undignified manner. He seemed to want a fight, an aggressive posture already upon his figure. He seemed to think he could win, too; either that or he wanted to die. Regardless of whether he was stupid or suicidal, he had successfully gotten the vixen's attention, and she now intended to give him exactly what he had practically begged for. She doubted it would be what he wanted, but nonetheless, she intended to deliver. The apparent thought in his mind that he was even capable of striking her was not something that could be ignored so easily as the rest of his behavior.

The umbreon's rings began to emit a bright glow of their same blue hue as she spoke. "A lesson will be learned," she began, her voice cold and calm, holding a matter-of-fact quality in tone. The glow in her rings faded into a dark aura as she waved a paw in Solus' direction so as to signal for him to step away. She wasn't sure if the croagunk would be able to take more than one attack, but he had personally insulted her one too many times, and he now needed to be taught some manners. She didn't want Solus interfering; she wanted the pest to lose in a fair fight so he would have nothing to blame but himself. "But not by me," she continued, adding on to her prior statement as the dark aura spread over her entire body. The black energy resembled fire in its movements, seeping upward from the umbreon's body and vanishing into the air. Dark Pulse was always an appealing move to her, being fueled by internal negativity, of which she had plenty to spare.

It was hard to tell how strong the croagunk was, but as he had struggled against Solus, it seemed safe to assume he wasn't too far ahead of the buizel. Considering he was already hurt and probably worn out, Krikka doubted he would even be able to take one hit from her. Sure, he would have a natural resistance to her dark energy, but that wasn't anything that overwhelming power couldn't fix. She didn't consider herself to be particularly powerful, but as of yet, she had found herself to be above nearly everyone she came across. The aura around her body suddenly flared up, reaching further away from her as she expelled a pulse of the dark energy in the direction of the croagunk. She didn't bother to get into a fighting stance or prepare for a counterattack, feeling that he wasn't even worth the effort of preparation. After all, this fight would probably be over in but one strike. If he could take even a single hit, then she would decide he was worth her full attention, but until then, she perceived him as nothing more than a pest who needed to learn his place.

One thing was for certain: she did not intend to let this disrespectful fool lay even a single finger on her. It wasn't that she was worried about being poisoned, but rather, it was a matter of principle. He had no right to touch someone such as herself with his barbaric hands, and he needed to know this. He had already proven himself to be beneath her in every way, so the mere thought of allowing herself to be so much as touched by him was a unacceptable insult. In fact, even the implication that he thought he was physically capable of such a feat was something she could not allow to go unaddressed. To think he could so much as make contact with someone so clearly superior to him was but a dream, and this was one dream that needed to be to snuffed out.

No matter what, she would not allow this foolhardy heathen to touch her.

There was a phrase that went something like "No news is good news." Solus disagreed strongly with that sentiment and was not satisfied with the Krikka's sigh as a response. He wasn't about to request further clarification, though. He understood that she was disappointed, and rightly so. He was likely as upset with himself as she was, if not more. Still, he didn't regret his decision. He hated himself for it, but he didn't regret it. His opponent had called him a coward. Sure, maybe he was, but he was also pragmatic. He'd run out of tricks and he would have run out of ground eventually, and he wasn't willing to risk taking a beating from this aggressive stranger if he didn't have to. Sure, it meant he'd probably take a beating from Krikka later for bringing the fight to an abrupt and lacking end, but he knew what to expect from her—more or less.

That all said, Solus noted that Krikka was taking the whole thing pretty well—going as far as telling the croagunk that his fight was over and that he wasn't to attack Solus further. Solus counted Krikka's protection as one of the true perks of their relationship, and she had already spared him of other threats several times now. Granted, she was the partially to blame for why he was in the way of danger in the first place, but she wasn't completely at fault for any of it.

Solus wasn't paying much attention to whatever it was the croagunk was saying, but he did start paying attention when he heard Krikka repeat something the stranger had said. Solus could tell by the tone she used that the croagunk had made a terrible mistake. If the guy couldn't tell from her voice, then he would surely realise his mistake when he noticed the slow building of a Dark Pulse. Krikka gestured for the buizel to move out of the way and he followed the order immediately. While stepping away from both the umbreon and the idiot who just insulted her, he spoke in a hushed—and perhaps a bit more timid than he would have liked—tone just loud enough for his master to hear. "Maim, don't kill."

In all honesty, Solus probably wouldn't be too bothered if Krikka did kill the hot headed croagunk, but he didn't want her to form a habit of killing everyone who she thought disrespected her. In reality, it probably didn't matter much that he even said it. She was under no obligation to actually listen to him, but he figured it didn't hurt to make a suggestion. Actually, he figured it might hurt him afterwards—it being Krikka—but he'd still try to deter her from wanton murder. The idea of dying never really bothered Solus. The idea of taking a life did, at a time, but it was almost a casual event around Krikka that it was losing its taboo nature. Lot's of things were like that with Krikka, actually. Solus's sense of morality was already pretty flimsy, and Krikka was making an impact on the buizel—even if he wasn't aware of it.

Despite the rising stakes, Goro couldn't help but be excited. It was true, yes, that he was facing down a pair of intruders that not only were willing to fight dirty but did not shy away from killing their opponents. It was also true that he knew next to nothing about them; he'd only ever fought one Buizel before, and it wasn't as much of a fight as it was a tutoring session. In the same vein, he knew absolutely nothing about the Pokémon in front of him. He'd guess she was a Dark-type, but until she did something to prove that hypothesis, he wasn't about to run in with a Fighting-type attack and phase right through a Ghost-type or something. It stood to reason that if he lost this fight, these trespassers would probably kill him afterward. He didn't know what the circumstances were surrounding the Poliwhirl's death, but it was a wild Pokémon; it probably just got in their way and they decided to kill it.

He could go the same way. This Pokémon was obviously powerful enough to subjugate another one, one which fought evenly with him for at least a few exchanges. But there was a rising thrill surging through Goro as he squared up against the dark fox in front of him, watching her keenly for her first move. This was his calling in life - fighting other Pokémon, and beating them bloody for thinking they were on his level. The fight was just as fun as the feeling of dominance and hurting his enemies, and if he won this battle he'd be riding on cloud nine. This was a new experience, for him; he knew nothing of his opponent, nothing of her abilities or moves, her typing or experience. All he knew was that she was powerful and dangerous, and that was more than enough to get his blood boiling. If he could win here, then he'd know that he was strong. Stronger than this Pokémon, at least. It would be a proof in-hand of his growth since striking out on his own, indisputable evidence that he hadn't wasted his time in the Cattail Marsh mystery dungeon.

He was tense on his feet when he noticed the first sign of movement from his opponent; or, rather, the lack thereof. The dark fox waved a paw at her flunkie, assumingly telling it not to intervene while she enjoyed herself against the swamp savage that had nerve enough to challenge her. The glowing rings adorning her limbs and ears darkened to an onyx hue, a pulsing dark aura spreading to cover her body in a palpable ambiance of strength. Her power spoke for itself, a stifling and heavy presence accompanying her technique. It rose from her body almost forebodingly, stopping in front of her for just an instant before the fox banished it at her opponent without movement. Her posture was casual and non-threatening, despite the tangible hostility and danger that her move wrought, Goro's enemy not even deigning to prepare herself against him. Did she think he'd just sit here and take her punishment?

Goro was tense on his feet and eager for action before the dark fox even began to prepare her technique; he was more than ready for the assault. As soon as the Dark Pulse surged toward him, the Croagunk bodily threw himself to the side, having no intentions of withstanding the attack the same way he did Solus' techniques. He didn't have a choice when it came to his fight with the Buizel; he'd locked Goro down with tactics and an annoying pincer attack. Here, Goro faced down an extremely straightforward, if admittedly stupidly powerful, projectile. The dark shockwave passed him as he leaped to the side, it's aura tangible even as it missed him. By the time Goro landed with a sloppy roll off to the side, there was a visible cold sweat adorning his figure. He rose shakily, visibly unnerved, staring at his opponent with naked shock on his features.

He'd dodged her attack successfully. Thankfully, it was straightforward enough and he'd been anticipating such an attack from his opponent, but it seemed to have taken a toll on the Croagunk regardless. Goro stood a few paces to the side of where he'd been a moment ago, glancing back in the direction where Krikka's Dark Pulse had been fired. It was obvious the attack was Dark-type in nature, and as such he'd have a natural resistance to it as a Fighting-type, but she boasted such a stupid measure of destructive force that it might do him in regardless. He might be able to take one, but any more than that would be most assuredly dangerous, and something he needed to avoid if at all possible. Perhaps owing to his newfound respect for his opponent, Goro elected not to press forward, beginning to circle the Umbreon in front of him slowly, his movements wary, cautious, and respectful. He'd have to spend the fight on his toes, tense and prepared to dodge any such attacks. As soon as she left herself open, or over-extended - that would be his opportunity to try his luck against her.

The shock wave brushed along the water's surface as it rushed toward the croagunk, leaving a rapidly dissipating trail darkness in its wake. Due to the obvious nature of the attack, it was no surprise when the croagunk leapt out of the way, allowing the wave of energy to pass harmlessly by and travel onward until finally dissipating in the distance. Despite this meager success, Krikka was far from impressed, still holding her casual demeanor with a casual expression of boredom and judgment upon her face. The foe had barely avoided her first attack, and he didn't seem interested in attempting to counterattack. After all his big talk about her being an intruder and all the aggressive behavior, this was a bit disappointing if nothing else. Did he simply intend to run and dodge until someone exhausted themself, or did he truly expect to find an opening against her? The umbreon didn't care which it was, as there was no way he would be outlasting her, especially with all the energy he had to have burned through whilst chasing Solus around.

Speaking of Solus, he seemed eager still to cling to some strands of morality, giving a rather odd and unexpected request. Seeing as how the foe wasn't making any moves, Krikka used this moment to contemplate how to deal with him. Her ever-loyal servant wished for him to be spared for some odd reason, even after being attacked and demeaned by him. It was unexpected, to say the least, but the goal here was not to kill the fool in the first place, so it seemed he would get his wish. However, after dealing with the annoyance at hand, Krikka intended to have a long talk with the buizel about what made him think he had a right to give commands. But for the time being, there were more important things to focus on, such as the croagunk. Or... at least, more immediately relevant if not more important; he didn't seem too keen on attacking, so perhaps he wasn't the most urgent matter in the world. He now seemed to be encircling her, probably searching for a vulnerability or waiting for a sign of weakness, but he kept his distance still.

The umbreon's aura persisted as her eyes followed the pest who longed to be named her opponent. She neglected to follow his movements with her body so as to continue directly facing him, openly displaying her lack of concern toward him. The dark aura persisted around her being despite having already been used to attack, as she still held a surplus of negative energy within her. It was by no means limitless, but one pulse was not nearly enough to drain her, and she highly doubted the croagunk would be able to avoid long enough for her to reach such a point. Even if he did, she had... other means of attack, but such a lowly creature would never behold the privilege of seeing any true effort from her. She was stronger than this croagunk, which meant being pushed by this weakling would be a personal insult. Such a thing was absolutely unacceptable and to be avoided by any means necessary. She had no doubt of her victory, but she needed to do far more than simply win.

"It seems like my friend here doesn't want me to kill you," she began, speaking in a matter-of-fact manner. She was truly surprised that this was the foe Solus whose life Solus had decided to plead for, out of everyone the two had come across thus far. "After you attacked him for no reason... insulted him for running... he still cares about your life," she continued, her calm, distant tone perhaps betraying the meaning of her words. She cared about as much about the livelihood of the croagunk as her voice implied, which was very little, but she did want him to know that after all his harassment, his victim was trying to protect him. "If you survive, be sure to thank him," the umbreon added on, still neglecting to give her opponent the respect of even the slightest effort to raise her own guard. It didn't matter since he wouldn't hit her; the only obstacle here was actually managing to hit him, and even that would surely be simple.

Krikka already had multiple ideas for ways to strike the croagunk despite his decent reflexes and the distance between them. It was just a matter of picking which one to try first, and she already had a pretty good idea of what she was going to do. Without even the slightest bit of movement on her part to signal her attack, her body emitted another darkly shock wave, this time spreading outward in all directions. This wall of negativity concealed the dark form of the umbreon from view as it stretched away from her, hiding her actions, or rather, total inaction. She neglected even to focus her attention on the croagunk for a moment to gauge her attack's effectiveness, seeing no reason to waste the effort required to move against someone so unworthy. Due to how spread out the energy was, this pulse wouldn't hit with the force of her usual attacks, nor would it travel the same distance. However, Krikka was confident that it would still be more than enough to at least knock the bold little frog off his feet. From that point, it would all be over.

Krikka attacked, the croagunk evaded. Granted, Krikka hadn't really put much effort into the attack. Apparently, she had deemed him less than threatening. If she hadn't have made it so clear when she spoke earlier, Solus might have thought she was just trying to scare the croagunk away. But she had been explicitly clear that she intended to teach the ignorant fighting-type who exactly he was dealing with. And with Krikka, no lesson was complete without some violence. Solus had seen the umbreon fight before—from the side lines, along side her, and against her—so he had a fair understanding of how she worked. She'd throw out an attack or two, sure, but in reality, she tended to use the start of the fight to observe her opponent. Feign a lack of defence, provoke attacks, study the opponent's patterns, and then when the enemy thought they were getting some sort of opening or advantage, she'd turn the tide on a dime. At least when she was on an even playing field, or when there was a power bias in her favour—as was in this case.

The croagunk, on the other hand, was not hiding his defensive status. He was keeping a distance, circling his opponent, and at the ready to avoid another attack. At the same time, Solus suspected the frog was also looking for an opening to attack. Krikka was in no sort of defensive posture, she was barely making an effort to acknowledge her opponent's movements. Perhaps it was the apparent threat of her dark aura that kept the croagunk from charging right in. Smart, perhaps, but he wouldn't be able to do anything from a distance. Krikka could, and her ranged attacks would hurt a lot more than Solus's own, type disadvantage or no. If he had had an attack other than Sonic Boom (a consistent but pathetically weak move) he thought he could have won that fight rather than forfeit. A water move would be great. Or an ice move, maybe. Freeze my enemies in place. I wonder if I can get Krikka to pity me and get me a TM or something. After she's done insulting and/or beating me for flaking out on that fight. Solus took a real-time pause in his own thoughts to punctuate his next immediate thought: ... I don't think I'm supposed to think so casually about being beaten.

Solus was pulled away from his introspective thoughts at the sound of Krikka's voice. He would have disregarded it since it was directed at the croagunk rather than him, but realising it was about him kept his attention. There was only the most minute pause between the moment Krikka finished and the moment Solus spoke. "Friend?" The word was spoken aloud, in a perplexed tone, and audible enough for anyone in the area to hear. Solus was legitimately confused by the umbreon's word choice. He knew that they were not friends. He wouldn't call her a friend, and he refused to believe she would call him anything even remotely similar to friend unless she was trying to uphold some ruse. But she had already addressed him as preperty—there was no ruse to uphold here. It was surely some odd choice of word, but it was still so remote from what Solus expected from Krikka that he couldn't help but question it.

Perhaps he'd gotten a little bit over his head. The Dark Pulse that his enemy fired off had missed him, true, but even now he felt the after-effects from the attack. The power from the technique was palpable, and even when it when it passed him by, he could feel the ridiculous amount of force behind the move. Now, circling his opponent slowly and watching for any sudden movements or openings, he had to admit to himself that the power difference between him and his opponent couldn't be more clear. One one hand, Goro could feel the cold sweat adorning his body, adrenaline pumping through his toxic veins and he was nothing if not invested in their battle, posture tense and at the ready for any sign of action. On the other hand, his opponent merely stood there, casually facing him with a visible sense of boredom and indifference. Of course, it had to be at least a little bit fake, but he didn't know why someone would play that game unless they could afford to.

In any case, the arrogance of his enemy was something he could use. He was at a loss of how to exploit it for now, but the fact that she wasn't taking him seriously was a boon no matter what. If she'd taken him seriously and fired off those dark shockwaves one after another, there was no way he could dodge them continuously. One would eventually clip him, and from there he'd be a sitting duck for whatever she had in mind next... and considering the tangible strength behind her attacks, it might even be the end of him. If there was any upside to be gained from this first exchange, it was that it was very likely that his opponent was a Dark-type. Goro didn't know any kind of Pokémon who could use a Dark Pulse like that and not be a darkling - so it was a safe assumption, at this point. Not so safe when she was firing those things off at him, but at least his most powerful weapon, Drain Punch would be more effective against this particular enemy.

Goro was at a loss, thinking about how to get in close against his opponent without eating one of her shockwaves when she spoke up again, her tone unemotional, straight and level. The Buizel apparently wanted him alive, for whatever reason, even after he taunted him before, after, and during their battle. As likely as it was that the Sea Weasel Pokémon didn't want a random death on his conscience, it was more likely that he had something different in mind for the Croagunk that sucker punched him and called him a coward. Whether it was an attempt to unnerve Goro or distract him, Goro banished the piece of dialogue and all thoughts related to it from his mind, his gaze resolute on his opponent and his focus only on his battle. Even so, the insinuation that she was going to kill him angered him more than anything else; of course, he feared death, but he was more angry at these clowns for treating him like a joke.

He was just about to fire off a retort to her strange taunt when the dark fox's body pulsed again with the same dark aura as before. There was a very alarming difference in the attack, immediately noticeable; this time, it was instant. There was no gradual, foreboding build-up of power or rising of energy, only a sudden, burst of dark energy that was suddenly shooting directly toward him. The Croagunk jerked backward mightily, an impressive display of reflexes to be sure, but the speed of the Dark-type fox's attack was even greater. The dusky shockwave crashed into him as he leaped backward, catching him squarely in the midriff, a clean attack if he'd ever felt one. His mind went blank at contact, the shock of the immediate attack catching him mentally flat on his feet.

It carried him a short distance away, the Croagunk landing square on his ass a few paces away from where he was before, in front of his opponent. Interestingly enough, he could feel the difference in power between this variation of her attack and the last one. This had been a sudden explosion, covering a wide area to maximize her chances of hitting a nimble opponent, whereas the one before was a slow, focused, built-up energy blast designed to deal raw damage. Make no mistake, however - that fuckin' hurt. Goro surged to his feet as fast as he could, once he realized what happened. Which wasn't all that quick, actually; he stumbled back up shakily, the force of her blow leaving a stinging, raw sensation where it had struck him, in his midriff and torso. In hindsight, the attack wasn't as notable as her first Dark Pulse, but it still hurt like a sonufabitch. What was more impressive about this variation was the suddenness of it all. One moment, Goro had been circling her warily, watching for any tell of an assault, and the next he'd been blasted away by an almost instantaneous explosion of dark energy.

Goro stared at his opponent from where he was now, several paces away from the still stationary dark Pokémon. He breathed shakily, one hand hovering over his torso where the blast had struck him while the other hovered at his side, wary but ultimately useless at this distance. So... in addition to a powerful ranged blast, she could use her Dark Pulse as an immediate area of effect blast, to deter anyone who got too close to her. It was painful, to be sure, but he knew that if he was struck by the first attack, he'd be in a worse spot. Still, nothing really changed for him; the distance between him and his opponent was still the obstacle to be overcome. Now, he knew her range and her speed. All that was left was to test himself against them.

With that in mind, Goro went on offense for the first time in their battle. His fists were tucked forward in front of him as he abruptly dashed at his opponent, ready and able to strike out once he got close, his steps hard and fast to clear the sudden space between him and his target. At this distance, he wasn't sure how many times she could put out ranged attacks; the variation between her buildup in her first Dark Pulse and her second was too great. If she built up her attack like she did the first time, she could perhaps fire one off before he reached her, but if she stuck to the more rapid, explosive variations, Goro would have a much harder time getting close to the darkling. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. There was nothing he could do besides what he knew how to do, and that was charge forward. Over and over again, until he got through her defenses or until she put him down for trying.

Solus seemed surprised at being called "friend," but now was no time to be explaining the whole thing to him.  Krikka didn't consider him to be a friend, at least in the traditional sense, but referring to him as such was less awkward than having to go out of her way to explain his status as a pet and servant.  The true relationship between the two was odd if nothing else, so it was far easier and more comfortable to call him a friend.  Of course, she had already openly displayed her dominance over him, but that didn't mean she had to continue doing so.  Besides, she did want the croagunk to know that he had assaulted her ally, not just some pawn.  While Solus was indeed a bit of a slave, he was her slave, which affected how she wanted to treat him... at least, in public.  That said, this by no means made them friends, and she very much hoped he wouldn't misconstrue the situation.  She did not want her buizel to assume they were friends or something weird like that.

But, alas, she couldn't clarify since she was a bit busy dealing with a more immediate issue.  Well, perhaps she could have afforded to multitask, but she wasn't particularly interested in dividing her attention in order to discuss such a stupid thing, especially when she had an audience.  Sure, it was an audience of one, but an audience nonetheless.  All the more reason to deal with him, just in case the buizel was planning on trying to start up some awkward, embarrassing conversation.  The sooner the foe was dealt with, the sooner Krikka could go back to belittling her subordinate in peace.  Fortunately, the croagunk who had deemed himself worthy of opposing her didn't seem to be handling himself too well; after but a single blow, he was already being pressed.  His reflexes were fast enough to move to the side and avoid an obvious attack, but he wasn't quite fast enough to dodge something with a bit more thought behind it.

Aside from being unable to get out of this pulse's range, the little swamp peasant seemed also to have been considerably hindered by the blow despite how dampened its power was.  To Krikka, the victor was already amply clear, but it seemed the bold creature before her desired still to fight on.  His conviction was respectable if nothing else, but conviction alone wasn't going to get him anywhere but an unmarked grave.  For a moment, it looked like he could barely even stand, making it quite obvious that his best option was to simply surrender and hope for mercy.  In truth, Krikka would have been willing to show mercy, but if the fool wished to press on, she would take no blame for any injuries... or worse.  Surely, Solus would understand if the foe just kept stubbornly attacking until his own death.  He surely didn't expect her to go out of her way not to kill someone if they had such an obvious death wish, right?

Why did she even care what Solus thought?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the croagunk was still able to move after being struck, though it was obvious that he was feeling the pressure by now.  The attack had been weak, so it wasn't a big shock that it hadn't managed to incapacitate him.  However, it had clearly done something, as he had suddenly decided to completely change his battle plan and rush blindly forward.  Did he actually expect this to work, or did he perhaps just know that he had absolutely no hope of winning by keeping his distance?  Regardless, there were many easy ways to deal with him now that he was making himself such an easy target by literally coming right to her.  There were many easy ways to deal with him in general, in fact, but most of them seemed a bit... excessive, to say the least.  The umbreon found the idea of putting forth any unnecessary effort to be a bit too flattering of the simple pest, and thus, insulting to herself.  She could have let loose another blast of her aura, perhaps even multiple pulses if she were willing to try just a bit, and it probably would have been enough to easily dispatch the opponent, but she had something different in mind.  She intended to finish him with her next attack.

The croagunk was rushing straight for her, but she didn't even flinch from his approach.  She didn't back away or hesitate, as she was determined not to be pushed back by his advance.  Not allowing him to touch her was the top priority, but she found herself wanting to demonstrate her superiority in as overwhelming a manner as possible, which meant not giving him even the slightest bit of ground.  Entirely avoiding any need to move would surely dampen the feisty critter's overconfident attitude.  She also wanted to finish the fight in as few attacks as possible, and now that she had gotten a moment to sum up the enemy's capabilities, she was fairly confident that she knew how to do just that.  Rather than attack or move, she simply stood in place, effectively inviting the oncoming assault into her vicinity.  Her eyes began to glow with an eerie yellow light, the rings on her body following with a contrasting blue light of their own.  The rays grew rapidly in intensity, lighting her body up in a flash that continued in a blinding display of radiance.

The disorienting rays of light emitting from the umbreon's body didn't continue for long, owed partly to the fact that she was still a bit new to this capability.  She had only just recently learned how to do it, but she understood that it served to blind and confuse opponents.  Of course, her body was already naturally capable of glowing in such a manner, but this was amplified far beyond the normal limit.  Considering this, it was no shock that it took a fair bit of energy to sustain, which brought the umbreon to the decision to cease the light show fairly quickly.  However, while she didn't keep the confusing rays up for very long, she still wasn't planning on giving the foe a break.  Her body's dark aura, being fairly well hidden by the light, was being concentrated all the while.  This was another reason she had chosen not to keep it up for too long: she was multitasking, preparing another dark pulse at the same time, which wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do.  All she really needed was to blind the croagunk long enough to prepare a single, hard hit, anyway.

Without even waiting to see if the light would have a lasting effect, Krikka let loose another charged pulse of negative energy, much like the first one.  The only difference was that this time, she was putting a bit of effort toward making her attack more difficult to avoid.  The darkness ripped across the water's surface as it rushed forward, concentrated on the croagunk's position.  It was vulnerable to avoidance just like the first one, but now it was paired with a bit of complementary utility.  In hindsight, the light probably hadn't been too pleasant for a certain buizel, but it wasn't like it would make him go blind or anything.  Hopefully.  A blind buizel with no real skills sounded like a terrible investment.  Fortunately, such a consequence was... unlikely, to say the least, and any inconvenience to Solus was worth it if the frog experienced the same difficulties.  Besides, Solus wasn't the one who was actually being attacked, so he didn't have much room to complain anyway.

No one responded to Solus's questioning. No one seemed to be paying attention to him at all, actually. Granted, the two other Pokemon in the area he was aware of were currently in the midst of combat, but surely Krikka could at least spare him a sentence or at least a word. She had the fight under control, he was sure; it's not like she was actually putting in much effort with the fight. The buizel sighed and moved further into the deep water. Here, he could be sure to stay out of the two combatants' way and wait for Krikka to deal with the croagunk in whatever way she'd like.

Solus began to consider the rest of what Krikka said. She had said that he cared about the croagunk's life. That statement, he thought, was not true in the slightest. He really couldn't care less about what happened to the croagunk before or after they left him. All Solus wanted was to keep Krikka from just outright killing every single Pokemon that happens to bother her in some way, shape, or form. Why? Solus would say it wasn't right. It wasn't right. But in reality—although he wouldn't admit it—he didn't want Krikka killing everything because it would inevitably become inconvenient in some way. Someone might pick up some trial and that would lead to some serious issues. Not that Solus actually expected the umbreon to kill literally anything that bothered her. She hadn't killed him yet, after all.

The buizel felt something smooth make contact with his foot as he moved aimlessly about in the water. Curious, he dived below the surface and returned to the surface a few moments later, round object in hand. It was an orb of some kind, thoug he wasn't sure what. For now, it was a distraction. Solus began to balance the orb on his nose. He was bored. Sure, there was a fight happening, and it wasn't even taking too long to escalate, but he'd already seen both participants fight and he already knew who was going to win. Therefore, he found the balancing of his new found plaything on his nose to be much more interesting at the moment.

((Solus is bored and has nothing to do I'm not even going to try to match ya'll in word count. I'm sparing everyone the fluff.))

Now, dashing at his opponent and making good distance, Goro realized that it was perhaps foolish of him to assume he could avoid and evade any attacks she sent his way. He could slip by smaller ones, sure, but if she merely let loose another area of effect explosion, he'd be caught flat-footed and blasted away faster than he could react to. The last one had caught him completely off guard, in fact, even when he was wary and watching for an assault. Now, dashing in on his still motionless opponent, he was practically volunteering to tank the technique. Which, to be fair, wasn't an awful idea, as he was certain he could take another explosive Dark Pulse, especially if he knew it was coming, but the stronger variant would likely put him on his ass again. This dash-in strategy he employed worked well on other physical fighters, who used ranged jabs and other punches to keep out an opponent, but against someone with an actual ranged projectile, he saw the error in it.

Still, there was no time to back out. He'd made the decision and rushed forward, and he'd be damned if he chickened out when he got too close to the arrogant vixen who'd been talking down to him this entire time. Matter of fact, he intended to drop the bitch right where she stood, blast a right hook directly at her jaw and watch her drop like a puppet with its strings cut. Then he'd turn right around and deal with the cocky little weasel who wanted him spared like he was some kind of meal to saved for later, rather than an enemy who tried to attack him. The Croagunk's lip curled as he zeroed in on his enemy, the distaste for the pair of intruders as evident as it ever had been. He stepped in hard and fast, body leaned forward in his speed, fists tucked in front of his chin ready to lash out at an instant's notice. Unbidden, unthinkingly, his right fist began to glow a dull hue - the mark of his most powerful weapon, Drain Punch - barely audible in the afternoon light of the marsh. He didn't realize it himself, but it was a habit of his to rush forward with a big right swing when he was about to go in on his opponents, and that's what he was preparing to do.

Unfortunately, his opponent had other plans. While Goro approached his opponent rapidly, the dark fox, motionless as ever, began to emit a strange lighting. She hadn't twitched since the fight began, merely keeping an eye on him from her distance and using her Dark Pulse whenever she deemed it necessary, and even in the face of her rapidly approaching enemy, she deigned to remain motionless and deploy some strange technique. Her eerie yellow eyes radiated strongly, a suddenly bright and harsh glow shining from the intimidating gaze while the blue rings adorning her ears and limbs followed suit. As Goro grew closer and closer - fifteen feet away, ten feet away, five feet away, almost in my range - suddenly, the bright lights shined a brilliant, blinding hue. It stung his eyes as much as it threw him off, and the Croagunk who was dashing in fervently a moment ago was stumbling forward sloppily, Goro's legs barely keeping up with his forward momentum. For a brief, terrifying second, the Poison-fighting hybrid had no fucking idea what he was doing here in the Marsh, drunkenly staggering at some strange vixen, before the light show ended just as quickly as it began.

He stumbled forward sloppily, his footing lost and his momentum nearly killed, but he was nearly right in the bitch's face. The dimwitted Fighting-type stared forward blankly for a moment, blinking owlishly in the aftermath of the strangest sensation he'd ever experienced before it dawned on him that he was sitting in front of an enemy and not swinging his fists. Belatedly, Goro began the motion of bringing his right fist around, but the wind-up was too long and all of the sudden the darkling in front of him let loose a dark shockwave nearly instantaneously, any window of opportunity that Goro might have had vanishing as quickly as it came. So much so that he was caught flat-footed in the startup of a needlessly big swing when his opponent's preemptive counterattack made contact with him, the Dark Pulse attack she cast forward being a new variant -- how much could she modify one move?

In between the moments that she expelled the shockwave and it crashed into him, he saw the ridiculous range of the move, sweeping beside and around the dark fox in front of him as if to catch any Pokémon trying to dodge the technique. The Dark Pulse slammed into Goro with force untold, blasting him in the chest while he was stuck in his own movement. For a brief instant, he was caught in his own footing, his fist still swinging around his side while his body recoiled back from the force of his opponent's attack, before he gave way to the move. The shockwave blasted the frog Pokémon back bodily, with a noticeably greater force than what the previous variant did. The immediate, cruel lace of pain jolted from his chest and spread outward, sending Goro sailing through the air for just a brief instant before he landed in a shallow puddle with a sharp audible splash. He ground against the bottom of the shallow waters harshly, his leathery skin scraping against the muddy, rocky soil underneath as he skid back from the force of the blow, before coming to a listless stop.

The Croagunk lay farther back than where he started, perhaps twenty feet away from his adversary. He'd landed in a lazy, spread-eagle pose, arms and legs spread to each side of him, telling of his brief path through the air. His head lay lolled back almost drunkenly, the sheer force of the blow rendering the Croagunk shocked silent before a weak moan crept out of the fighter's throat. It trailed through the marsh softly but clearly in the sudden silence. Goro could feel the harsh stinging spread from his chest to the tips of his toes and his arms, trailing up his chest and permeating around the frog Pokémon's head, resulting in a harsh, throbbing headache that prompted the Croagunk to weakly raise one fist to hover around his forehead, aware of the sharp pain but unable to do anything about it. He lay there lethargically, unmoving for a minute or two before he was actually able to remember where the fuck he was. Unfortunately, he couldn't do much about his situation besides weakly raising his head to try and take in his enemy's location, but even that proved too much for the suddenly fatigued frog Pokémon, his head dropping back into the shallow waters with a dull splash. He realized he was a sitting duck, but any movement he tried to bring wrought with it a harsh warning twinge of pain that spread throughout him.

Nevertheless, the Croagunk tried to rise, pushing his arms behind him and half-raising from his spread-eagle position. His arms were shaking, fast-forming bruises manifesting themselves on his chest from the repeated Dark Pulses, head nearly throbbing from the bad landing he'd just sustained, but he was still conscious. He was still conscious. And that-- that's what mattered, at the moment. Weakly, Goro tried to rise from his position of laying on the ground but seemed unable to gain any traction with his exhausted and aching body. Perhaps, if his opponent allowed him a few moments of time to recover, he'd be able to master himself, but it was obvious that he was a sitting duck for the next few moments. Worse yet, the Croagunk was unable to raise his head to properly view his opponent and had no idea if she was still standing there like she had nothing better to do... or if she was coming to dish out more punishment. Strangly, Goro found that he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out.