The Tale of the Hero Begins! [F]

[Noerd]

"Baby moves...?!" Marshall exclaimed. He had no right to be shocked, though. Silver was right, of course. Aerial Ace was an option for Marshall now, even if he didn't know quite how strong it'd be, but for once he had a plan. Darius was here to prove a point, not to win. He'd show that he could win the match, then switch out to a newer member to give it experience. The Spearow had served Marshall well, but it was time for the new generation to step in. After all, his intention was to end with a squad of Fighting types, and Darius was most certainly not one of those. So, as a method of dipping his toe in the waters of this battle, Peck was the order of choice. Seeing Cyndaquil survive handily, Marshall's worries were somewhat alleviated. Perhaps he could now take the risk of a stronger move. "Good job, Darius!" he called out encouragingly, genuinely pleased at the power behind such a simple Peck attack. At this rate, Cyndaquil simply didn't stand a chance against the pair. Marshall curled his hands into tight fists, the excitement proving difficult to withhold. "Say what you want, Silver, but it looks like that 'baby move' did a lot to your Cyndaquil!" he eventually retorted, finally leaving his own thoughts.

Marshall couldn't help but take his mind back off the battle for a moment as he realised what he was doing. For once, he was actually planning ahead in the midst of a battle. He had a goal in mind, and he wasn't going to deviate from it no matter what. It felt weird. It felt... fake. He had enjoyed the battle so far but, now that he took a moment to consider what he was doing, he wasn't happy with how he was acting. He really wanted to just have Darius let loose... but if he did, he'd have to spend more time training his weaker members. And on that thought, he bit his lip rather hard. It was a choice between sacrificing a little bit of his own pride here or long, gruelling grinding in the future. He knew what the right decision was, in his heart. While Darius wasn't a Fighting type, he'd proven himself to be a worthy "Honorary Fighter" in Marshall's heart. The Spearow wasn't going to be abandoned. He might get benched, but Marshall would never get rid of this one. His heart was admirable. It was far more pleasant to fight with this guy than a certain Torchic, for sure. That Ralts wasn't looking much better either; how long would it be until he had a Gallade of his own anyway? Realising what he knew all along, Marshall snapped back to reality just as the latest blow to his chances came crashing down.

Darius glared at his wing as the burn made itself known, as if it was his own body's fault that this had happened. He flapped furiously, which only agitated the char mark. "A burn, huh? Greaaaaat..." Marshall's thoughts moaned. He recalled the side effects of this condition all too well. It reduced physical damage output, after all, and 'physical' was a style of attack that Marshall was quite fond of. Fortunately, a kindly ghost had provided him with just the antidote. Well, he thought it was probably a ghost. He'd had a dream where he was given several items, then in the morning he checked his bag to find that they'd magically appeared there. It had to be a ghost, right? Regardless, he now had just the ticket to take care of a burn. "That's not all. Not by a long shot, Silver! Darius, get back here!" Marshall pulled out a Burn Heal from his backpack, spraying it all over his Spearow's wound. "And with this, that lucky hit from earlier's gonna get cancelled out. Now then, Darius, let's show off our new move. Aerial Ace!" As much as he hated trying out a move he'd never seen before in such an important match, it would probably be necessary here. He needed that Cyndaquil to be "basically beaten", and he didn't think another Peck was going to do that. He crossed his fingers, praying that the Cyndaquil would survive this one hit.

[Burn Heal hasn't been self-deducted, just to show that it is indeed there (as there's only the one in his inventory).]

[Marchbaby]

Silver still believe that Marshall was just stalling for time as he had not come close to knocking out his Cyndaquil and now having to deal with a burn made things look even more desperate in Silver's eyes. " Please tell me that you can fight back harder than this, a burn should not be a major problem for you at all." He said as Cyndaquil anxiously stood by waiting for the order to strike as it noticed Marshall using a burl heal to treat Darius's burn. Though the medication worked it meant leaving Cyndaquil a free strike and Silver was hoping for a repeat performance.

" Cyndaquil use ember again, I want that bird to fry by the time you are finished with it." Taking his orders quite seriously Cyndaquil fired a small ember towards Darius trying to burn the bird again. The ember scored a direct hit on his chest but Darius was able to put the flame out quickly enough so that it did not cause another burn. With the immediate threat now over it was now Darius's turn to attack again and Marshall had quite a surprise in store for Silver.

" Ah good a move actually worth my time for once, I was beginning to think you were going to throw in the towel. At least you will go down fighting. Cyndaquil use ember again." Silver thought that Darius would have been slowed down from the last attack enough to slow him down but he was dead wrong. Darius sprung into action and flew up into the air before dive bombing onto the young fire type causing massive damage. CYndaquil was in intense pain as it slowly got up after being rammed by the reckless bird.

Cyndaquil finally worked up the strength to fire another ember but as Darius had expected it he was able to take less damage this time around. He was not feeling too well after the ember clipped his wing but he was in the better shape of the two Pokemon. " You must be joking, how in the world is that rat with wings still able to fight back?" He said as Cyndaquil had its doubts about trying to go another round with the crazy bird.




Battle

---

Silver's Cyndaquil | Level 12 | Blaze
HP: 11% (4/35)
Status: Normal
Used Ember x2!

VS.

Marshall's Darius | Level 15 | Keen Eye
HP: 17% (7/41)
Status: Normal
Used Burn Heal, Aerial Ace!

---

[Noerd]

Marshall simply ignored Silver's first comment, all too familiar with the brat's sharp tongue by now and perfectly happy with how he was handling the situation. He knew in his heart of hearts that winning by pure luck wasn't a win at all, and had Silver managed to get his victory from a burn then it wouldn't have counted. But by Arceus if he could get some luck of his own, that'd be nice. He watched eagerly as the battle continued on, seeing the small Fire typed rodent fight back quite strongly with yet another Ember. Then came the new move, Aerial Ace, and Marshall shrieked with joy. "Nice job, Darius! Keep it goin'!" The move was every bit as powerful as he'd hoped, but Cyndaquil seemed to be hanging on by the skin of its teeth. This was perfect. Operation "Easy KO" was go, but not before Cyndaquil surprised its opponents both with one more explosive Fire attack.

"Huh, so I guess he's not gonna give in until he's beat. Just look at him though... the match is over. So..." Marshall pulled out a Pokéball and pointed it at Darius. The Spearow squawked as he saw the ball, shocked and disappointed to not be finishing the match. "Darius. You do what I say, remember? You'll get more fights later, for sure. For now, we need someone else to get the experience." The Flying type wasn't having any of it and began to rant in Spearow-ese, but his trainer simply zapped him back into his ball. With Darius tucked back away, Marshall pulled out another of his Pokéballs. He wasn't sure which Pokémon needed the experience more at this point, so in a 50/50 gamble he tossed out Hans, the Mankey. He turned to Silver and spoke once more. "Alright, Silver. I could've won this with Darius, you've gotta admit. So I'm gonna get one of my other guys the levels."

He now addressed his Mankey, who had done practically nothing since being caught. The primate appeared to be incredibly excited, bouncing around ecstatically and swinging punches randomly. Marshall was quite surprised; he hadn't really had a chance to get to know this new addition to his team and this was his first time really seeing Hans's personality. It looked to be quite a nice Mankey, almost the polar opposite of what it had shown earlier. Perhaps it was prone to quick changes in mood. Whatever the reason, this creature was now looking up at its new master and jumping up and down as it waited for its order. "Um... hi, Hans. Go use Karate Chop?" Marshall was still in shock from all of this, but his order seemed to reach the minion perfectly fine. Hans turned around and prepared for battle. Well, as much as it could through all of the excitement.

[Lamont]

The red head scowled, eyes narrowing even further as he glared at the sturdy brown bird. He wasn't sure if the spearow was still conscious due to his own pokémon's pitiful power or if it was due to Darius' own burning desire to fell his foe. As much as Silver hated the tiny bird right now there was a tiny pit of admiration of its willpower. He needed a pokémon like that, not this weakling cyndaquil. Silver's sharp eyes dropped down on his fire pokémon with disdain, but no audible insult passed his lips.

His ire was sparked once again with Marshall's passing comment of Cyndaquil about to be the clear loser. The boy's hands dug deeper into his pocket, balling into a fist out of sight. And then his rival switched. Silver was taken ever so slightly aback; for a second. Once the ball of fur with spaghetti arms burst into the undefined ring that smug smirk of his returned full force.
"Like that half-cooked chicken would have beaten me," the boy protested, "And this furball isn't going to fair any better." Silver skid a foot along the ground and threw up a cloud of dirt toward his own pokémon. "What're you waiting for, Smokescreen that chump. This one's unlikely to have that annoying ability."

Cyndaquil quailed at the rain of small earthen clumps but swiftly drew on what courage and strength it had left hearing Silver's command. As the happy monkey addressed his trainer the fire type scampered forward. Once close behind he took a deep breath, held it for a second, then squealed as his back exploded into a thick cloud of smoke just as Hans received his first instructions for battle.

"Finally. Now set that monkey ablaze with an ember!" Silver's voice rang out from beyond the field of black smoke. Acting quickly, the little fire mouse's back lit up and in the next instant flames were flashing throughout the haze. Hans danced in the trail of fire set at his feet, taking a bit to get out of the trail. Fortunately for the fighting type the attack pinpointed his opponent's location like a beacon in the night. With a victorious howl Hans leaped through the darkened mist, arm outstretched, and karate chopped Cyndaquil with near deadly precision. There wasn't even a sound in reply.

Soon the smoke cleared and found Hans undeniably the winner of the short exchange. "Tch! Useless..." Silver whipped out a pokéball and recalled the fainted pokémon. His face scrunched in anger he glanced up to Marshall. "This doesn't mean anything whelp. Next time you won't be so lucky."

---

VICTORY!

---

Hans grew to LV 12 and gained +1 Happiness!
He would like to learn Pursuit; delete an old move?



Darius grew to LV 16 and gained +1 Happiness! Even though he didn't get the KO



Demeter grew to LV 9 thanks to EXP Share!

---

Silver is defeated!
He tossed £600 in Marshall's direction before departing in a huff

[Noerd]

(Grabbing Pursuit; have updated. Switching to curled brackets since square ones occasionally break my OOC bits for some reason and I can't be bothered to think.)

Silver's remark about Darius not winning anything was to be expected, and Marshall tried not to let it get to him. It wasn't easy, but he knew he was right. Deep down, so did Silver. That's what Marshall told himself, anyway. He took another deep breath and watched his new Pokémon getting ready for the battle. Hans didn't seem to be changing in personality at all as it realised that the next round of combat was looming. The young trainer wondered if his Mankey was going to be capable of the kind of combat that would be expected of him. Hans practiced his chopping moves while Silver chose his next attack. Smokescreen. Marshall tutted, a disgusted look appearing on his face. How dare this kid start using stupid moves like that? Smokescreen was a cheap trick for people who didn't know how to fight fair. "So, when you're down you rely on stupid tricks like that, huh? I respected you once, y'know..." he said, a rare venom in his tone this time. He glared at Silver, his hands curling tightly into fists once again. "Hans, show no mercy. Go all out and take this thing out!" Confused, the Mankey nodded his head. He didn't quite get what was so bad, but he'd do his best.

All that said, it would be the Cyndaquil that made the first move anyway. The "dirty trick" that was Smokescreen quickly filled the immediate area, clouding everyone's field of vision. Hans coughed softly, trying to locate Cyndaquil and failing at first. Marshall waited as patiently as he could, looking for the little fire mouse. However, before anyone else could move, Hans saw a barrage of tiny flames burst through the smoke in front of him. The Fighting monkey screeched in pain as he was pelted by the attack. Luckily for him, it didn't seem to be leaving any permanent marks. So this was a Trainer Battle, hm? How interesting! Hans dusted himself off and quickly punched through the haze, bringing a powerful Karate Chop down on his opponent. Hans knew his attack had hit and let out a victory cry, jumping around in the Smokescreen in a kind of primitive dance. Marshall let his hopes soar high, wondering if the match had ended in his favour as Hans seemed to be signalling.

Once the smoke finally cleared, Marshall allowed him a whoop of excitement, his earlier anger vanishing. Cyndaquil was beaten and the match was over. Silver gave his usual edge-filled speech before leaving. Marshall ran over to Hans, grinning cheesily. "Nice job, Hans! Now then... return." He recalled his Mankey and sighed happily. The rival had been bested once more, and this time it was fair and square. No items. That was all he cared about. Now he could look ahead once more. In front of him, Violet City's skyscrapers beckoned. Violet. The site of the first Gym. What was the Leader's name again? Falkner, wasn't it? Marshall thought that was what Daniel'd said, anyway. He needed to improve that attention span, really. Anyway, all he had to do was heal up his team and he could head straight to that Gym. He took a moment to consider if he needed a change in Pokémon, but quickly shook his head at that thought. Vesta could wait for her second chance; the team was doing well so far, after all. It'd be this six against... whatever the Gym Leader had to offer. It didn't matter. He'd win. His confidence was at its usual, unbreakable level. He took a couple more steps and entered Violet, his heart racing with excitement.

---

With Falkner taken care of and a shiny Zephyr badge in his possession, Marshall could finally return to his Cherrygrove explorations. The weather had changed quite considerably now, growing sticky and humid. Marshall had experienced plenty of this weather back in Cianwood, but it hadn't been pleasant then either. Having had to trek back from Violet was most unpleasant in such hot conditions.

"Oh man... why exactly did I decide to come back here? I mean... it's not like there's anything valuable around, right? Ugh... grinding." Yes, grinding. That and perhaps picking up something of value for trades. Those were the only reasons he could even stomach seeing this place again. He'd be quite happy to never see another flower once he'd left Cherrygrove. He was starting to get just a little sick of the place, though this was mainly due to his recent progression. With the Zephyr badge under his belt, he wanted to get to the next Gym ASAP and win there too. He just needed his team to be up to scratch. Particularly a certain scaredy-Torchic.

(Changing up the squad - out comes Beowulf, destroyer of all things, for the timid Vesta. Self-updating.

As for the journey itself, we're checking out the Cherrygrove Streets for an encounter.)

[Midnightive]

As Marshall made his way back from the gym, with a shiny badge in his pocket. He was ready for some light training. As he walked around the quieter gymless city, he had time to reflect on his crazy journey. A light hissing could be heard in the city streets, though it was quiet you could easily mistake it was crickets or something in the long grass. But this hissing was not that.

An medium length Ekans had taken a liking to the trainer and was following just out of site. With an evil grin on it's face it popped out in front of Marshalll making it hiss louder. With a rattle of it's tail and a slight neck dance it was ready to fight. The only question left being will Marshall flee or fight?

Shiny roll:
SlxtF2Ke1-42

A wild Ekans lvl. 6 wants to battle!
Will you fight or flee?

1-42

[Noerd]

Marshall was busy fiddling around with his Pokéballs, trying to work out how to move items between Pokémon without having to pull them out of their Pokéballs. After a while, he gave up, calling out his team so he could take care of a few things before his next battle.

"Alright, c'mere Vesta..." he started, fixing the Torchic's new EXP Share to be a little firmer on her head. Once he'd finished that, he started to pat down her feathers. For some reason, the Fire type had become quite ragged-looking. It was quite a wonder as to why, considering the Torchic had done almost no fighting so far. The rest of his team was equally battle-scarred, but that was a little more reasonable. However, just as he had begun trying to tend to his team, Vesta chirped in terror. Marshall was just as quick to spot the Poison type, though, and he was perfectly ready for it now.

"Well, I guess we can wait on the grooming stuff. Demeter, get on out there! Bite, let's go!" The Chespin obediently jumped forward, running into the battle with her mouth wide open. Marshall hadn't seen this one fight yet, but he was eager to learn about his new comrade. Týr's retribution could wait a bit, really.

(Demeter, Bite x2 courtesy of Running Shoes. Yes, it's lazy... it's my own thread, OK. I can be lazy once or twice. :P)

[Lamont]

The ekans thought it would have the upperhand sneaking through the grass and popping up suddenly. But it was wrong. With a quick word a bobby head grass type was lumbering her way through her element teeth primed. Ekans hissed, slit tongue slithering between its lips as it uncoiled itself in preparation to give the juvenile a good lickin'.

To the snake's surprise though Demeter ended her patter forward to fling herself head first into her wild opponent. Daring to say the least. Caught completely off guard the snake could do nothing but writhe as the chespin's chompers bit down on its scaly skin. The rattle on the end of its tail played like a maraca in the sway of grass while the poison type wriggled to get better positioning. After a couple good smacks on the ground Demeter released her grip, giving Ekans a great opportunity to retaliate. Its tail came down on the young pokémon's back with a stinging strike.

Demeter yelped, lurching away and trying to rub at the new sore spot. She growled. Before Ekans could serpentine away through the grass she hopped forward and gave the purple reptile another good bite. The snake contorted with the second strike, making a desperate effort to break free but it only did more damage to itself in the struggle.

---

VICTORY!

---

Demeter grew to LV 12 and gained +1 Happiness!


Vesta watched studiously and grew to LV 9!

[Noerd]

Marshall clapped his hands in delight as his Chespin fought her first battle, showing off exactly what she was capable of with two swift Bite attacks. It didn't matter if there was a level advantage or anything; she was proving herself to be quite the fighter already. This was a promising start, for certain.

"Alright, nice job, Demeter!" he called out simply, running over to pick up his new acquisition. Vesta stood there, shivering slightly from watching the match> She wasn't getting much better with the whole 'battle' thing and it was hard to not notice this. Marshall sighed, not at all sure what to do with his unstable Torchic. She needed some kind of confidence boost, that much was clear, but how exactly does one go about that? The Fighting type trainer could only wonder; he really wasn't a Breeder, so this was out of his remit. Regardless, the important thing was he'd got her a little bit of experience. That was what mattered here.

Marshall thought for half a second about staying, but he almost immediately dismissed the idea. Ekans had been no challenge; there was no way that his team would be able to level up from any of this. It was time to move on. Onward and beyond Violet City, in fact. The Cianwood-born lad recalled his team members and walked out of Cherrygrove City as quickly as his slightly stumpy legs would carry him.

---

FINISHED!

(Finally)