The First of Many Things

[Wolf]

Damien Wolf and his new Houndour, Shadow, had just left the Pokemon Lab. So far absolutely nothing of interest had happened to the duo. Looking around, Damien said, "Ahh, isn't this awesome, Shadow? Here we are, traveling the region with no baggage. We get to see towns of all sorts and meet new people. Best part is, we don't have anyone telling us what to do." The Houndour nodded and yipped in agreement, then went back to looking around. Apparently, the Pokemon had never left the lab's premises. The two continued to walk along the route.

[flexa]

A Diglett tunneled underground, not really doing much at all. The pokemon stopped for a moment, hearing noises above her.

". . .Best part is, we don't have anyone telling us what to do."

Though it was muffled, the pokemon could just make out noises above her, a human talking, followed by a sound that could've only been made by a pokemon! She would have to investigate.
The Diglett popped up to the surface, coming up right in front of the pokemon, which turned out to be a Houndour. A human walked next to the canine, obviously its trainer. The ground pokemon swooned.

<Oh, you have a trainer!> She began chatting energetically. <That is so cool! I want a trainer too!> The pokemon was actually a bit jealous of this Houndour. <Would your trainer train me? I've heard that I'd have to fight you first, though.> She prattled on happily, then stopped speaking, a hopeful look on her face.

[Wolf]

Shadow listened to the Diglett's proposal and thought about it. Looking over at the Diglett, Shadow said, ~Yeah, sure. Seems like a good thing to do. I get have my first battle, yet at the same time gauge your abilities. Let me get his attention.~ Looking up at his trainer, who was watching the exchange between the Diglett and Shadow, Shadow pulled on Damien's pant leg with his teeth. Motioning towards the Diglett, Damien got the gist of what Shadow was saying. Crouching down and looking at the Diglett, Damien said, "So, you want to have a battle, eh? Well let's do it!" Jumping up, Damien looked at Shadow and said, "All right, Shadow! Let's start things off easy. Use Howl." The Houndour nodded and prepared to let out an attack boosting Howl.

[flexa]

The Diglett instantly pepped up. After the Houndour in front of her howled, she quickly tunneled forward, rushing at him as fast as she could. This ground pokemon was incredibly confident in her abilities, and just knew she was stronger than her opponent. Even if she did win, though, she would come along for the journey anyway. Claws whipped out in a flash of motion as she came right up to him, trying to hit him with a high-speed Scratch.


ooc;; Fun Fact: If you use a stat-affecting move like Howl, you can use an actual, damaging attack in the same turn without repercussions.

[Wolf]

ooc~~Really? Nice...~~

Damien grinned as the battle was finally underway. Unfortunately for Shadow, the only offensive move he knew was Ember. This was where strategy came in. Analyzing the tunnels, Damien realized that the holes the Diglett made whenever she popped up was a handicap, especially when fire was involved. Grinning at this revelation, Damien said, "Shadow, dodge her attack. Then use Ember." Shadow nodded and prepared to do what he was asked.

[flexa]

ooc;; Remember to describe how the move is used, even if you can't say whether it's hit or not. The more you describe the pokemon's actions, the easier it is to reply to them! :D



The Diglett saw the ember coming, and retreated underground into her hole. The fire followed her downward into her tunnel, and she had to collapse part of it to keep from being burned.

The fire had ended up scorching her, however, as she moved.
The pokemon came back to the surface and charged at her opponent, giving him a taste of her Astonish attack. Lunging hardily, she hoped desperately that her offence would make the Houndour flinch.

[Wolf]

Seeing the Diglett bury underground, Damien mentally cursed. Thankfully the Embers followed the Diglett down her tunnel. As Damien waited for the Diglett to resurface, he thought, 'Let's see... If the tunnels are all connected, then shouldn't a well placed Ember attack down one of the holes smoke out the Diglett? Yeah, that should work.[/color]' Damien snapped out of his reverie when the Diglett popped up. Shaking his head to clear all thoughts, Damien just let his instincts guide him. "Shadow! Use Ember before the Diglett attacks you," he ordered. Shadow nodded and drew in a deep breath. Feeling the all to familiar feeling of fire burning in his mouth, Shadow blew the white-hot embers out of his mouth. Hopefully they would hit the Diglett.

[flexa]

Even if you're a Ground-Type Pokemon, getting hit in the face by a cloud of hot embers isn't a pleasant experience. The Diglett took the attack head-on, without bothering to try and dodge.
<I mean, it's not going to hurt me that much.>

She was right, of course, it wasn't the pain that made her stop and shake her head vigorously, it was just irritating! She shook the odd tingly-burning feeling from her face, feeling bits of charcoal fall off, and recoiled from the Houndour.

The flow of the Diglett's attack had been broken, so she got ready for another offensive move by throwing dirt towards Shadow's eyes in a speedy Sand-Attack; the Mole Pokemon then followed it up with Scratch, claws flashing out to the hopefully-disoriented canine, aiming for the muzzle.

<I bet he didn't even see it coming!> This Diglett was proud of her speed, and adored a good battle, at that. She was eager to get a trainer, someone she could help, and who would take wonderful care of her!

Just as well, she was definitiely not going to make it easy for the guy. She was stronger than his pokemon! So, the Diglett mused, If I start winning too much, I'll just let him catch me!

[Wolf]

If there was one attack that Damien did not like, it was Sand Attack. In his mind, it was low and dirty. Yeah sure it was useful in battle, but it was unfair to do that. Sighing, Damien thought, 'Ah well, being sneaky is a part of battling. It's not the stronger one who wins, but the one that can strategize.[/i]' Going back to the battle, Damien saw that the Sand Attack had temporarily blinded Shadow, and now the Diglett was moving in quickly for a Scratch attack. Damien knew that by the time Shadow go the sand out of his eyes, the Scratch attack would land. Seeing as how that could be an opportune moment to strike, Damien said, "Shadow, keep your eyes closed. Listen for the moving Diglett. And when you think that it is close enough to strike, use Ember." Shadow nodded and, keeping his eyes closed, took a deep breath and felt the reassuring fire that was filling his mouth, ready to attack the Ground-type.

[flexa]

The Diglett followed through with her attack, swiping her claws at the pooch so fast that they were merely a blur. The Ember hit her head on, and she felt the fire wash across her, not extremely painful, but not fun either. The Pokemon recoiled, shaking wildly to get the stinging to go away. Her main problem?

It wasn't main damage from the attack, no, it was a Burn, and it hurt badly. The Diglett shook her face wildly. It hurt so badly! How could she go on battling when her face was all crispy? The horror! And that human might even catch her without her beating the pup into a fiery pulp!

[Wolf]

Damien grinned as the Ember struck, although he knew that it wouldn't do a lot of damage. Then the unexpected happened. The young man raised an eyebrow when he saw the Diglett started shaking wildly. After thinking of what might be happening, realization dawned on Damien. The Diglett was burned! Now was the time to press the attack. Calling out to Shadow, Damien said, "Shadow! Time to press the attack! Use Ember!" Shadow nodded and agreed with Damien's plan. Taking a deep breath, Shadow felt the familiar heat swelling in his mouth. Then he breathed out a barrage of fiery little darts aimed directly at the Diglett.

[Birdybot]

Diglett aren't the speediest of Pokémon. The Diglett's paws () were working frantically at trying to dig a safe passage for her to move through. She made surprisingly good progress, but Diglett just found it hard moving quickly on the surface. Her eyes squeezed shut in effort as she strained herself to move, but by then Shadow had simply changed his aiming. Diglett felt that she was almost pulled from the rich earth with the power of the Ember attack, but she somehow managed to pull through and end up back in position again.

Diglett was now in a very sorry state. Her face was screwed up in a wince as her Burn sapped away a little more energy. She was weakened now by all the Ember attacks, and was feeling very disheartened. How could this be? She was on the verge of defeat and hadn't laid a single attack on Shadow yet! Well, other than Sand Attack; but that hadn't done much at all. What did that mean, four dodges in a row? Diglett was sad. This battle was becoming rather boring... more like 'beat up Diglett' than a battle. The Pokémon moved closer with another Scratch, hoping to lay her first offensive attack.