Crisp Forest Air

[Birdybot]

Leaves of all different colours crunched underfoot as Luna picked her way through Route Two. The woods were beautiful dressed in all manner of golds, reds, browns and yellows, the odd greens creeping in here and there. The air was chill this crisp early morning. Sunlight was stabbing through the branches at a shallow angle, the dawn chorus crying all their songs loudly to the world. The air was pleasantly sharp and fresh. It was not too cold either, and the sky that could be seen through the trees had a few clouds but not enough for rain. Luna had risen early as she had every day of her journey so far. These past couple of days had seen her sleeping on hard ground, which was uncomfortable, not that she minded camping too much. Oddly enough she wasn't that tired, probably because she usually went to bed not long after the sun went down.

On her right walked Lazarus, her Espeon-dæmon. He enjoyed the mornings as well as the sunlight. He was smiling as he walked, liking the feeling of the cool air on his fine soft fur. To Luna's left, a Poochyena walked proudly. In front a Vulpix named Prometheus tumbled through the fallen leaves. His coat blended with the warm colours, but he wouldn't stay still. He was far too excited by all the new things. As they walked, he would jump into piles of fallen leaves, crunch them under his jaws, sniff at every bush to see what creatures had been there before. The Poochyena, recently named Romulus, had joined in on a number of occasions, turning his curious explorations into something far more playful. The two would bound together to kick at the leaves or would roll about in pretend fighting. Prometheus was still young, his sixth tail yet to grow. Poochyena was older, but still fairly young and a puppy by nature.

"Rommy, you smell any Pokémon nearby?" Luna asked him. Dog Pokémon like this one were supposed to have an excellent sense of smell. It was possible he would be able to sniff out their next battle. Prometheus was falling behind her other Pokémon in terms of strength so could do with a bit of training. Over the previous day and night, he'd got a lot of rest, leaving him ready to fight again after his defeat against a Skitty previously.

Romulus put his nose to the ground. He could smell earthy smells. Leaves and living plants and dirt overpowered other smells. He could smell Luna, Lazarus, and Arget, too, and the faint smell of a wild Pokémon that may have been around here during the night. By now it would be long gone. "Nope, sorry. We'll just have to wait any be surprised!" his tail was wagging as he walked. This was exciting. He was already far from his home, walking unfamiliar ground with his brand new trainer!

[Rin]

The chirruping of birds could be heard in these woods on this fine cool morning. Indeed, it was a lovely day – far overhead, several Ledyba buzzed together over the Route, lots of little knickknacks and food items clutched in their little legs. Farther down the route, a Sentret popped out of its hole, evidently woken by the loud crunching of leaves beneath the feet and paws of Trainer, daemon, and Pokemon. It peered at the group before sleepily withdrawing back into its little burrow – evidently today it didn’t feel like having a confrontation. It was about an hour before it became apparent that the chirruping of one bird in particular was rather loud and off-key. It sounded a little raspy, almost. Luna and her party wouldn’t have to wait long before the source of the (mediocre) birdsong revealed itself.




Wild Starly has appeared!
Lv. 7
Gender: Male
Ability: Keen Eye – no Accuracy reduction.
Nature: Hasty
Moves: Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack


The Starly looked grumpy and exuded grumpiness. He swooped directly in front of Luna (and Prometheus) and alighted on the ground in the middle of the pathway, wings spread in what he expected to be an intimidating fashion. “Gerroff my lawn, Trainer!” he snapped, hopping agitatedly from foot to foot. “Youse young ‘uns got no place here. Shoo! Shoo!” The little bird made a hasty flapping motion as if he was trying to brush the Trainer and her Pokemon away.

[Birdybot]

Romulus made for the Sentret and sniffed at the burrow it disappeared down. For a moment there he'd thought they might have a nice battle, but it wasn't meant to be. Shame though it was, he didn't want to bother someone who didn't want to be bothered, and besides there was plenty more to see. He rushed back to Luna's side, stopping along the way to tackle Prometheus gently. The two rolled playfully before trotting off in different directions.

The group hadn't been paying much attention to the birdsong. Lazarus was the only one who noticed the harsh, off-key chirping. His ears were more sensitive than Luna's, and he was generally more observant with his longer attention span. He scanned the trees for any sign of the offending bird, but of course the leaves blocked most of them from view. His purple eyes narrowed in annoyance, but he didn't mention anything. No point when the others hadn't noticed yet. Pointing it out wouldn't do any good and would only serve to spread the irritation to them as well. Despite his best efforts to ignore the singing, doing so became rather difficult when the bird flew down and landed in front of them. He seemed angry. Lazarus looked to Prometheus, who had frozen on the spot in surprise. The young Vulpix could do with some more experience in battling. The Starly looked set for a battle. This could be interesting.

Luna jumped in surprise at the appearance of a Starly. A fairly common Pokémon, she'd seen them around all over the place. They were just as good as any Pokémon when trained up properly. She looked down at Lazarus, who took a moment to ponder something before translating for her. Something about a lawn. Must be a territorial bird, then. Excellent, he might want to battle with her, in that case. Prometheus could tell that too, by the way he was standing still and trying to size up the bird nervously. "Sorry, we didn't realise this was your territory. What do you say to a battle, Starly?" she asked, forgetting any introductions in her eagerness to battle.

[Rin]

“Humph!” The Starly folded its wings sniffily. “If it takes me to kick your feathery rump off mah property, Ah’ll do that meself!” He peered at Prometheus, who was directly in front of him. “You certainly are a little whippersnapper, aren’t you. You think you're all gonna go out and see the world. HAH!” the little bird huffed. The Starly had clearly worked himself into a temper, as he was now doing a strange little dance while flapping his wings angrily and blowing up leaves in Prometheus’, Luna, and Lazarus’s direction. “You want a battle, you got a battle!” He suddenly turned around and seemed to walk away, his fluffy tail wagging from side to side as he walked. Suddenly though, he turned around, spread his wings, and sped towards Prometheus, using a Quick Attack. Once he got closer to the young fox, it was evident that Starly had many white-tipped feathers among his brown ones. It seemed that this Pokemon was fairly old, despite the fact that he had never grown to a high level or evolved. Strange.

[Birdybot]

"Get ready for a battle," Luna warned as Lazarus translated for her. At first Romulus fluffed himself up eagerly, but quickly realised it would be Prometheus battling and walked dejectedly to sit on the opposite side of Luna to her dæmon. He was disappointed not to be battling, but Prometheus did need to train more than he did. The fox was Luna's starter, and both her other Pokémon had a lead on him in terms of levels.

Prometheus steadied his breathing and tried to make himself focus. It was surprisingly hard to do so. There were so many thoughts whirling around his head regarding the battle, and the odd that were just random ideas about matters completely unrelated, he struggled to tell what his instinct was telling him. Starly had a swagger in his step as he walked away from him. He had assumed the bird was moving to a better position from which to start the battle, but it had seemed the battle had begun without his realising. Before he could react to the sudden beginning, Starly had struck him with a good strong Quick Attack. He was shoved aside but kept on his feet.

"Don't worry, Prometheus, just concentrate harder and you'll get the hang of it. Practice makes perfect. Now, let's start off with an Ember," Luna called with kindness in her voice. She knew how Prometheus would beat himself up about being hit by too many attacks. Determined to get it across to him that it was OK to fail (except in dire situations of course), she felt the need to reassure the Vulpix that he was doing well after all. The poor guy was only a cub, after all, she hardly expected him to be as strong or skilled as a seasoned fully grown Pokémon.

It would be nice if Prometheus knew a move that lowered a variety of defence that matched the attacks he could use. Presently he had Tail Whip, which lowered regular defence, but both his attacking moves were special attacks so would be unaffected by the Tail Whip. All that would serve would be to waste time and give Starly more chance at avoiding damage. He just stuck to the Ember for now, spitting flames as hot as he could muster from his mouth.

[Rin]

“Harharr,” Growled the Starly. “That’s more like it, little foxy!” The bird wasn’t so pleased, though, when whizzing out of the ‘little foxy’s’ jaws came blazing fire, hot enough to make the grass it passed through wither and burn. “Yee-owch!” he cried out when the flames hit him, knocking him back in the air again. “Arrgh, I’m gonna get you young whippersnapper!” Narrowing his eyes, he huffed and puffed dramatically for a bit, before circling above Prometheus, out of range of any physical attacks – little did the bird know that the young Vulpix did not actually possess any. Suddenly, Starly began to dive lower, lowering his head in what was clearly a Tackle. Soon his wingtips skimmed the long grass, and he closed in on Prometheus. The attack was fast, but since he was flying he had less maneuverability than a Pokemon on the ground using Tackle would.

[Birdybot]

Prometheus shivered at the Growl, but remembered that it was useless against him since he didn't know any attacks governed by his attack stat. Haha! Silly Starly didn't know his move had been pointless. He might be able to use that to his advantage. Growl didn't take much energy so it didn't matter if it was wasted, but Starly would act differently until he realised Prometheus only knew ranged attacks. In future, when he did know physical attacks, it might be harder but he could try doing something similar, luring an opponent into a false sense of security before striking. That was far away, though, and this was now.

Luna could see plainly that Starly didn't know what attacks Prometheus knew, which made perfect sense since he couldn't have seen many Vulpixes before if he was at such a low level. Prometheus was leaping up and trying to bat the bird with a velvet paw. A completely useless act, it was one that reflected his youth. He was just playful and curious. Sitting still while Starly circled was too infuriating, so he instead was compelled to interact and use up energy. Quickly the circling turned into a diving Tackle. Starly was less able to adjust his angle. "Dodge, you can do it! Then use Extrasensory," she called out.

He could do it, he could. Prometheus made himself believe his trainer as he settled down and stared fixedly at Starly. He was fast, but Prometheus was fast too! The faster Starly got, the harder it would be for him to change course. The fox cub waited until he was sure that Starly would be unable to hit him, then sprinted as fast as he could to one side. He went overboard with his attempt, racing several feet out of his way, but better safe than sorry. He let out an excited bark to see he had successfully dodged. Yes! He was getting there! There was a battler in him yet. Realising he'd wasted some time running further than he had to and celebrating, he hastily used his Extrasensory attack. As such a young Pokémon, none of his attacks were as strong as they could be, but they showed some promise. His haste and delay made the attack weaker still and gave Starly more of a chance to prepare to face it or dodge, but the accuracy was decent.

[Rin]

Starly shook his head, giving a derisive snort as Prometheus jumped around playfully below. The youngster would never be able to get to him at that height. As he swept towards the Vulpix in his Tackle attack, his eyes narrowed, confident his attack would be fast enough to strike. And yet – he felt himself whoosh through thin air where Prometheus should have been. Letting out an angry coo-coo! he turned, arcing over the grass to face his opponent. Now he would see what the little twerp had in him. Extrasensory? What sort of an attack was that? Starly frowned, as he had never heard of it before. Suddenly, from the air around the Vulpix came a…strange, purplish ripple in space. It alarmed him, he had never seen anything loud it. Giving a cry of alarm, he tried to turn and flap away from the strange Psychic power, but before he could maneuver around the move caught up to him and slammed him from behind. He was flung forward several feet in the air, but thankfully managed to recover, although he could see he had lost some of his feathers, his pride, and his breath. The tailfeathers that had been loosened drifted to the ground as he turned and soared over Vulpix again, not speaking but glaring with great irritation at the younger Pokemon. Suddenly, he dived more quickly towards Prometheus, maneuvering through the air so his Quick Attack could be as swift as possible.

[Birdybot]

Another attack of Prometheus' hit while that of Starly did not, giving the fox cub a slight lead on the bird in this fight. That wasn't to say Starly couldn't catch up before long. The Quick Attack was a smart move; Prometheus lacked the reaction time to dodge it. He growled in frustration at being hit by the sharp blow. It had been a solid, stinging hit, dealing damage before he had scarce had chance to register it was happening. He couldn't let his focus dip like that! He had to stay on the ball, be ready for all sorts of things to come his way. Expect the unexpected and all that, not that any Pokémon knew any fancy move at this stage.

"His attacks are weak now, but he is still young and does show a lot of potential. That determination of his will see him through as well," Lazarus commented. Luna could see it too. Her starter might not be the strong battler others picked, but given time and a bit of effort and he would grow a tough fighter. That was a trainer's job, to make their Pokémon reach their full strength. He was curious and a thinker, too, so she would make sure he got plenty of opportunity to be an intellectual if he wanted, too.

For now though, battle. "Never mind, you're still doing great! Ember again," she called. She'd found he needed a good deal of positive encouragement.

Prometheus obeyed, barking a spray of glowing sparks at his opponent. In truth he was nervous, but that was no cause to give up.

[Rin]

Starly spat the Vulpix’s fur out of his beak that had been stuffed in when he had rammed into Prometheus. It fell in little tufts to the ground. Harrumph, it seemed the little whippersnapper had not been taught his lesson. He’d have to dish out the teachin’, it seemed. Starly puffed up his breast, letting out an off-key harsh cry that could be recognized as a Growl move, flapping around upwards to see what sort of attack Prometheus would spit out now. It seemed like the little foxy was keen to stay away from him, and could attack from afar. This was particularly annoying, since it meant that Starly couldn’t keep out of reach by keeping in the air. He heard Luna give the order for another Ember, and quickly backpedaled a bit in the air, trying to swerve away from the flames. They were too wide though, and caught him round the tailfeathers. Yowtch! He fluffed himself to rid himself of the fire, quickly flapping this way and that. This only served to exacerbate the flames, which had sent his tail end on fire. Screeching, he dove into the grass, rolling in the dirt to extinguish the fire. Ooooh, that little trainer and her little foxy! Hissing, he raced forward on his feet with his head down again, bursting out of the bushes to Tackle Prometheus.

[Birdybot]

Prometheus hopped from his left paws to his right a few times, bouncing into the air in his happiness. Another hit, and this one had been really good! He was feeling very pleased with himself indeed when he realised a crucial issue he now faced. With Starly in the colourfully leafed bushes, and the fire extinguished, he had no way of knowing where he was. His face fell. "Um, Luna? I can't see Starly..." he said in a worried tone.

"Don't attack until you can see him then," Luna advised once Lazarus had translated, "Brace yourself for an attack but of course dodge if you can. Then use another Ember," she said. Lazarus had been thinking. Luna hadn't said it, but both of them knew the young Vulpix was unlikely to avoid an attack in the short space of time during which he'd actually be able to see Starly. He flicked his tail. That was annoying. There was something better to be done than simply bracing yourself, though. "Prometheus, prepare your Ember to use right when Starly comes at you next," he said.

Prometheus' eyes were fixed on the undergrowth hiding Starly, but he tore them away briefly when Lazarus gave him an order. The Espeon-dæmon had not ordered a Pokémon in battle before, so he was unsure if that was allowed. Luna nodded, though, so it must be fine for dæmons to help in battles. All right then. He sucked in a deep breath, heating the air to be ready for his attack. Starly emerged all of a sudden. Tended though he was, his reaction time was too slow. Starly collided with him at around the same moment as he used Ember. From a short range the attack would be strong and hard to avoid. Starly's Tackle had felt more painful than before. Prometheus was weakening and it had been a solid attack.

[Rin]

The Starly gave a veritably loud screech as he was blasted in the face with the Ember attack. Granted, he was sure he had given the young whippersnapper a good hard thwack on the noggin with his Tackle, but the flames were strong and intense. Skreeing, he flapped along on the ground, rubbing his face and beak in the dirt in an effort to extinguish the burning pain of fire along his feathers. Finally, he managed to get rid of them, but an ebbing pain remained. The bird Pokemon let out another screech as he felt his heath sapped by the burn. Curse it all! The little foxy wasn’t going to take him down! Though he felt himself getting weak, he puffed up his feathers and a furious Growl passed by his beak.

Now time to get sweet revenge. He hopped around, trying to find the best angle on Prometheus. He felt his legs twitch under him, wanting to give out, but he snarled, “Gerroff my lawn!!” again, trying not to pay attention to his heavy breathing. Then he rushed at Prometheus, attempting to take the auburn-furred fox by surprise with a Quick Attack.

[Birdybot]

Prometheus was getting good at ignoring the Growls now, happily letting this one go completely unnoticed. By the looks of it, Starly was burned too. That was the conclusion he drew from the way the bird cried out in pain despite having rid himself of the flames, anyway. Knowing that gave the fox a surge of hope. Excellent! He was one step closer to defeating this opponent. The shout was confusing considering they were in a forest with no lawn to be seen for miles around, but the attack he understood well enough. There wasn't much of chance of him managing to dodge such a speedy attack, however. There was quite simply not enough time for him to move out the way. He tried, of course, but the Quick Attack caught him on the side. At this stage, he lacked the strength to stop himself being knocked down, which only added to the damage. This Starly was not only determined to ignore the damage done to him, but he knew how to land a strong attack, too. He seemed a bit old, maybe he'd had a lot of experience.

Luna was worried that Prometheus was weakening faster than Starly. It seemed to her that he was capable of withstanding less damage than Starly was, and the bird didn't look like he was tiring. "Don't worry, Starly's still weakening. Look, you can see his breathing is all heavy. He's just powering through it," Lazarus pointed out to her. Ah, that made sense. She hadn't noticed little details in her concentration on the attacks passing back and forward as a whole. "Get up, Prometheus, and use Extrasensory again! Hang in there, you can get through this!"

He could win a battle. His trainer believed in him. Prometheus shook slightly when he staggered back to his feet, but get up he did. A growl slipped past teeth he hadn't noticed himself baring. He was surprised by how into this battle he was getting. Bounding closer to the bird to improve his aim, he executed his attack with reasonable precision, eyes glowing as he did so.

[Rin]

“Harrharr!” The Starly snarled again as he felt himself collide with the Vulpix upon executing a successful Quick Attack. “See how you like that, foxy! Now youse knows what’ll happen when you kids keep playin’ on an’ old Starly’s lawn!” He shook his wing feathers in Prometheus (and Luna)’s general direction, as if he was wagging his finger at them or some such. It looked quite comical, really. The effect was ruined a bit as his eyes grew wide as Luna ordered another Extrasensory. Blast that strange, weird, fuddily-duddily Psychic type move! He could make no sense of it. His only option was, perhaps, to avoid it and get behind a tree or something. He scampered off into the grass, flapping his wings to try to get off the ground, but to no avail – the scorched feathers were having trouble, and he needed more time. Prometheus having bounded closer didn’t help his case as well, and the powerful Extrasensory struck him from behind.

Yelling angrily, the Starly fell on his feather-cushioned bottom. He gave an awkward sort of squawk as he did so. Trying to stand up again, perhaps to take the little whippersnapper out, he felt that his legs just wouldn’t. The Starly then flapped his wings, creating a cloud of dust around himself, but inevitably unable to get into the air. He started crawling towards Prometheus, eyes glinting with anger. Then, suddenly, he felt the pain of the burn. He flopped backward, only managing to cry out, “Oooh, I’ve gone and thrown out my back!” before fainting into the grass.


Prometheus has won the battle and gains 2 levels! You may catch the grumpy old Starly if you please.

[Birdybot]

At first it looked like Starly would be coming back for another turn. That worried Prometheus to no end. He wasn't sure if he could power on through another attack, he'd already lost his first battle, and he was desperate to win a fight as soon as possible. The burn had slipped his mind. He was reminded when he saw the bird wince again. He hadn't expected that to be enough to make him faint, but obviously it was. Hm. Starly must have had less energy left than he'd originally thought. It was interesting how such a small push could send someone over the edge.

It hit him then that this meant he'd won. Finally! He practically skipped back to Luna, a movement made awkward by his four legs. She laughed, picking him up. He licked her face. "I did it I did it! I can be strong after all!" He paused. He was tired, but in his excitement that was being forgotten. "Um, what's going to happen to Starly now?" He asked, cocking his head to one side.

"You should catch him! That's what trainers do, right? What do you think, Laz?" Romulus piped up, having watched the battle thoughtfully. He'd been trying to see how Prometheus fought so that he might fight well with him should the need arise. Lazarus had been contemplating what the Poochyena just said before he'd asked that question. Luna would want to expand her team without giving much thought to it at all, he knew, but he wanted to only catch Pokémon that would be worth investing time and effort into training up. Starly might grow physically weaker soon with age. For now it seemed he was a tough cookie, but that may be an issue later. It was strange how one so old was still around Route Two on such a low level. There must be a reason behind that. The guy was grumpy, but he had experience. He was stubborn and hardy, a gruff sort. Once trained up, he looked like he might well be a very valuable team member indeed. "Yes, as Romulus just said, you should try catching him," the dæmon finally decided after a pause. Nodding, Luna shifted Prometheus' weight to her left arm and grabbed an empty Pokéball from her pocket with her right. She threw it at the fainted Starly and waited impatiently to see what would happen next.