Commander makes an entrance!

[Tyger]

GRAYE'S MARINADES

"A stowaway, huh?" Sam questioned the disgruntled Litten walking alongside her. The creature certainly had a few... endearing qualities after first glance. The cat's ear was a bit nocked (probably from a cat fight in the streets he came from?) and a few scars on his body. His tail was a bit docked as well, as if it had been broken and mangled. One of it's front fangs were missing as well, so this poor mangled scrap of fur definitely had enough to be salty about. Sam truly wondered if the cat had hearing problems from an ear injury as it didn't seem to be responding to anything she did. Somehow she'd managed to catch it after it had crawled into her bag while visiting the Alola festival, so perhaps it was a bit frustrated. 

"Hey, i'm sorry you didn't want to be caught, but I think we'll be just fine, ya know? We'll have some fun and we'll get you pretty strong. You already look pretty strong so we're halfway there. I promise i'll take care of you though. Better than what it seems like life might've been." Most of her Pokemon had come to her via silly ways. Garrus was an egg, Icarus was the only true planned one. Hell, Blue was a fossil for heavens sake. Joka had been a strange gift, Maelstrom was either a curse or a blessing (Sam wasn't sure yet) and now this strange feline. 

The cat seemed to brush her off, instead looking for opponents to fight. If the trainer was truly sincere, then the fiery hot battles that would follow could probably warm the cat up to her. "You wanna battle? Okay then. Let's see... let's try using one of your fire moves! I dunno if Litten from Alola learn fire moves early on, so we'll just have to see I guess?" The intimidating presence of the Litten was enough to probably cause a bit of a stir for sure. The Pokemon on this route were used to Charmanders, Squirtles and Bulbasaurs. At least they'd be in and out of here quick, right? For the wild Pokemon's sake. She'd already mowed through here with Maelstrom before, Sam was surprised there were any Pokemon left after that Horsea was finished with them.

Fire Pledge x2 on whatever comes out next <3 Won't be here long LOL (Running Shoes)
This precious litten is based off of my own personal cat, Commander Frog. Such a precious (mangled) baby.

[Marchbaby]

Finally getting a chance to show off his stuff Commander wasted no time in preparing an attack on whatever decided to pick a fight with him. He was still sour over belonging to a human and he needed to take out his frustration on something. When a patch of nearby grass began to rustle he fired his Fire Pledge attack towards it hoping to score a hit on a worthy target. Sure enough he scored a hit but he would soon pay the price. As the column of fire died down an angry Spinda leaped out into the open and stared at him full of rage. Even Commander's intimidating look was not enough to get Spinda to back down.

It charged towards him unleashing a full bodied tackle which knocked the poor cat backwards a bit however the damage was minimal. Commander was far from pleased with the results of the first round and so he decided to strike again, another Fire Pledge made its way towards Spinda scoring another direct hit. The column of fire quickly died down allowing the panda to strike again in hopes of keeping the battle close. Even with two full bodied tackles scoring direct hits Commander had gained a decent upper hand. Spinda refused to give up though as it still had the energy to keep going for now.

Even so the intimidating look in Commander's eyes was starting to take its toll and Fire Pledge was a very dangerous move for Spinda to face. It was not in the best of shape as it was but there was no doubt that it could not afford to take another Fire Pledge. Spinda needed a plan and fast or else Commander would have this battle in the bag.






Battle

---

Spinda | Level 5 |
HP: 18% (4/22)
Status: Normal, Attack -1
Used Tackle x2!

VS.

Samantha's Commander | Level 5 |Intimidate 
HP: 62% (13/21)
Status: Normal
Used Fire Pledge x2!

---

[Tyger]

GRAYE'S MARINADES

"You certainly are grumpy, aren't you?" Sam noted, crossing her arms as she watched the feline. Before she could say much else (not that the cat would listen, anyways) fire burst forth from the cat's mouth towards a patch of grass ahead. Alarmed, Sam began to run over to the scorched earth. "Whoah! Be careful! We're gonna torch the whole place down or something!" Wouldn't -that- be something to call home about? Hey mom, can't be a trainer here anymore. My new grumpy cat razed the first route.

An angry cry from a Pokemon interrupted her thoughts and it soon registered that Commander had initated a battle. Oh, for the hell of it apparently. Perhaps the creature was frustrated. Maybe Sam was talking too much? Either way, like the rest of her rather unruly group Commander had taken it upon himself to start a battle. Might as well try and be a trainer to him since it was going on. "Uh, good eye Commander! Maybe a tackle or scratch or something...?" The words died out as they left her mouth though. Another scorching bit of flame poured forth from the feline, practically toasting the poor Spinda. By whatever miracle work Spinda had done, it was still standing albeit shakily. Was that because it was a Spinda, or because this battle was almost over?

"You seem to have a good hold on what you're doing. I think uh, you should just keep doing that. Yeah, that fire attack. Fire Pledge?" Sam hadn't heard of it, but her Pokedex said it sure enough. Commander sure seemed special, by he way he intimidated others in the heat of battle, and spouted that flame when he looked so young! The cat had probably seen a lot, and just hadn't gotten the experience needed. Perhaps a fresh new scene here in this region would help him grow! Sam was just to person to -attempt- to help it happen. 

"Hey, Commander!" Sam tried to get his attention before the next pass had come and gone. The cat rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder, notch in his ear twitching with an emotion. Was it curiosity, or irritation? "You've uh, got this. Supporting you from a distance but here if you need me sorta thing." The cat simply blinked before turning back to Spinda. It was going -down- this turn, Commander could -feel- it.

Fire Pledge once more! 400 Words sent to the Incubator

[Lamont]

Spinda huffed quietly, doing its best to hide its weariness after the last couple of blows. Which, admittedly, was probably harder for a spinda than any other pokémon. The constant teetering and lobbing to and fro, winding its head back and forth and generally always looking like it was about to topple over at any second. As its strength waned the deceivingly balanced motions became noticeably labored and less smooth, highlighting the delicate line between a spinda's whirling dance and actually being in danger of falling over.

But Commander would put the poor thing out of its misery soon enough. An annoyed twitch of his tail whipped the air as he prepared a third clump of fire to toss at the wild pokémon. Spinda made half an attempt to spin out of the way, hoping the grass would provide some sort of cover and cause the angry cat to miss but, alas, those focused eyes had Spinda locked in and another pyre erupted on the spot pokémon. With newly blackened fur the odd little bear-like critter twirled and flopped to the ground.

---

VICTORY!

---

The satisfactory obliteration mixed with that shiny lil' egg made Commander grow to LV 9!
Commander would like to learn Lick; delete an old move?
He has also gained +1 Happiness

[Tyger]

GRAYE'S MARINADES

Despite his cute appearance (even with a few bedraggled scars, bumps or bruises here and there) Commander was a predator. He'd evolve into a formidable fighting machine and therefore needed no hints dropped to him about how to fight. Studying Spinda, who was trying to hide it's weaknesses, only fueled Commander's drive. He'd take down this tiny creature and then prove to the Pokemon accompanying Sam that he was nothing to take lightly. The feline let loose a torrent of flames which licked at the dizzy Spinda's fur painfully when they erupted from the ground. Sam knew this was the way battles went, but still, she couldn't help but feel bad for the Spinda and the Pokemon on this route. At this rate, they probably feared the ground she walked on. First Maelstrom, now Commander. She was just razing through all of these Pokemon... it wasn't without guilt, though.

Spinda fell to the ground with a plop, breathing heavily before it dropped to unconsciousness. The proud feline licked a paw and drug it over his scarred ear in an attempt to clean itself. Or was it to just look nonchalant after his win? Either way, Sam stooped down to give him a pat only for the cat to shy away. His lip curled up a little bit, almost flashing fangs before deciding against it. Sam's hand was still in the air but Commander made no attempts to rub against it. "Nah, that's fine. I respect that." The trainer said with a slight shrug, standing up (and glad she didn't get bit or something.) Commander eyed her with curiosity, expecting her to try to push the issue, but when Sam backed off the cat merely blinked before returning to washing. Hopefully she'd make some headway with him soon. Now, for the Spinda...

Sam picked up the legs of the blackened bear and drug it into the tall grasses where it wouldn't be picked off by a bird Pokemon or something. While this was a low level route with pretty weak birds, who knew when something big would swoop by for an easy meal? "There. You can rest here for a bit. Sorry we charred you." The trainer then gave the little bear a pat before standing up.

"I've gotta admit, haven't seen anyone do that to a wild Pokemon before." A voice behind her called, startling both Sam and Commander. The cat would never admit it though. He just wanted Sam to feel a bit better about getting scared. Totally didn't get snuck up on by this trainer.

"Oh?" Sam stood up and looked over her shoulder to see a tall, blonde man with a camera strapped around his neck. He seemed pretty relaxed being by himself, so Sam could only assume he was probably a veteran trainer of some sort. His comment made her look back down at the Spinda. "I just didn't want it to get picked off by a big bird if it came by. I'm backtracking to train a Pokemon, and figured it was only respectful since..."

"Oh trust me, I know. I've razed through this route plenty of times. It almost gets to the point you feel kinda bad, yeah?" The trainer grinned, extending a hand. "Justin Pryce. Photographer. I saw you stooping down and got a pretty good shot of you and that Spinda. You seem to really care about Pokemon, which makes the picture even better. Hope you don't mind." The man said with a small smile. Sam shook his open hand, but even Commander seemed a little leery of the trainer. Was it because he was stronger than Sam? Or because he'd had a bad run in with a blonde trainer before? Couldn't have been this one, but there were plenty of tourists in Alola...

"Nice to meet you. Samantha Maverick. Rookie trainer of sorts. I just picked up this little stowaway when I went to the Alola festival. He uh, accidentally got caught. We're heading up to Ilex soon so I wanted him to be ready for anything, ya know?" Realizing she was babbling, Sam scratched the back of her neck and took a step back. Justin scratched his chin thoughtfully. 

"Ilex, eh? Man, that was a long trek. I hated slogging through that forest. Tell ya what. In exchange for that awesome picture, totally gonna send that to a magazine as an entry, i'll let you borrow a Pokemon. She's a Ponyta. Name's Prima. She's a bit of a prima donna, but you'll get used to her. Her fire will help get around Ilex, plus she can help carry some of your stuff. When you get to Goldenrod you can contact me and i'll come pick her up. As long as you take care of her, yeah?" Justin offered, digging into his bag for a pokeball. Sam smiled widely and nodded. 

"Any help would be amazing! Thank you so much!" Sam swapped numbers with the photographer and he left back towards the professor's home. Definitely had to be a veteran trainer to just let someone borrow a Pokemon like that. Either way, she had a little bit of extra help through Ilex which definitely wouldn't hurt. "C'mon Commander. Let's head that way." She said with a smile.

-end-

800 Words, trading over Prima to Sam for a while to get some x800 shenanigans going on.