There was a soft rustling in the nearby tree, a sound that caught the attention of both the trainer and his pokemon. It seemed they would do fine without Tiny so long as the wild pokemon were being this careless. Frederick gave the foliage an amused smile, a hand moving to point directly at the source of the noise. Rock squinted at the tree, his body slowly slithering around the side as he examined the situation. At the same time he would move to coil his tail around the front of his trainer, just in case the pokemon in hiding thought they could sneak past him and get straight to the human.

Frederick looked on with raised brows, his head bobbing slightly in approval as he watched this. He hadn't even given his order yet and Rock was already doing his part to assess the situation, while still managing to do his duty and protect his trainer. This boy had potential. "You know, a Dragon Breath would probably shake them up quite a bit." The onix inhaled slowly and deeply, trying to keep his movements silent to the best of his abilities. Unfortunately it's hard for giant rock snakes to be sneaky, the sound of stone grinding against stone quickly revealing his position.

It was at this time the pachirisu decided to reveal herself, her hands already rubbing against her cheek as she jumped out of the foliage. From the amount of electricity crackling throughout her body it was likely that she had been charging this attack the whole time. Midair she would discharge the electricity all at once, thrusting her small arms out to release a ferocious electro ball This attack worked wonders in the past, especially against big slow pokemon like this! But unfortunately for her it wasn't so simple this time. The electricity seemed to harmlessly pass through the ground type pokemon, who didn't even seem to flinch from the attack.

She was too shocked to even think about dodging the next attack, as Rock exhaled his dragon breath with a deep bellowing roar. The force from the wind sent the much smaller pokemon flying back, slamming her against one of the trees along the path. Never had she encountered a pokemon that was immune to her special attack! But there was still a chance. She still had one trick left up her sleeve. Shaking off the impact from the attack she would bound forward with impressive speed, weaving through the trees to keep her from being easily tracked by her opponent. "Watch yourself Rock. It's up to something."

Seemingly out of nowhere Pachirisu would jump out from a nearby tree and latch herself to Rock's face, planting a sweet kiss directly on her opponent's nose with a soft giggle. The onix's eyes went wide, the sudden show of affection confusing and shocking him. Instinctively he would bring his face and the tip of his tail together, aiming to swat the creature from his face both out of shock and embarrassment. What a humiliating display to happen in front of his new trainer during their first battle! Unfortunately Pachirisu was too fast for him, easily darting to the top of his head and causing him to hit himself square on the nose in confusion.

Frederick's brows furrowed at this sight, his movements gaining a burst of intensity rarely seen from the ranger. With a few nimble movements he would scale the rocky snake that was previously protecting him, jumping down outside of the now potentially dangerous coil surrounding him. Turning back to the scene unfolding the dark skinned ranger's voice would harden considerably as he shouted to the pokemon. "FOCUS Rock. Use Gyro Ball to shake it off." He could hardly understand the trainer through the confused haze, yet his calm yet firm voice managed to pierce the veil and provide just enough clarity for him to follow through with the order. Each of the segments making up his body began to spin violently, each one spinning the opposite direction as the next.

The gyro ball worked wonders against the speedy pokemon, her quick attempt to escape the attack unintentionally placing her between two segments that were spinning in opposing directions. She let out a cry of pain as she struggled to escape the grip, only managing to escape when the rotations came to an end. Luckily her body was able to resist the attack, allowing her an opportunity to flee before the situation got worse. "Don't let it escape. Dragon Breath." Now freed from his confusion Rock was able to turn toward the fleeing pachirisu, who was too shaken from the attack to properly evade detection this time. With one final gush of air from the serpent's mouth the pokemon was tossed about, once again slamming into a nearby tree.

Frederick smiled up at Rock, his hands clapping softly together as he moved to step closer. "Very well done my friend. You overcame the situation and acted with the clarity I would expect from you. Keep this up." The onix let out a soft breath of relief upon hearing this, the knowledge that his trainer didn't think ill of his foolish display. "But next time that happens don't attack until I give the order." The man's words gained a bit of sharpness this time, the softness fading from his face as he looked the massive snake square in the eye. The pokemon lowered his head, nodding slightly upon receiving this reprimand. "Of course our partnership is still young. I can already tell you've got potential so I'm sure you'll pick up quick." That last bit of praise was enough to put Rock at ease once more with the assistance of a soft pat from the trainer. It seemed that despite the man's apparent softness he had high expectations from his team. And Rock was going to do whatever he needed to to meet them.

                          

The two moved in silence for a short ways, the ranger keeping things at a slow pace and taking in the sights while Rock remained on the alert. Both of them noticed a shadow passing over them, prompting each one to look up and investigate. A sight of a skarmory circling overhead brought a slight smile to the ranger's face, a soft chuckled slipping out through his teeth. "This should be an interesting challenge for you, my friend. Think you can hit it with a Smack down?' The onix glanced around the area for a moment before locking his eyes onto the skarmory, the bones comprising his body grinding together as he moved into action.

His head remained entirely motionless as his body moved to coil around a nearby tree, the length of his body wrapping around it multiple times. He slowly pulled at the tree, the overwhelming strength of his mass easily uprooting it and pulling it from it's home. Then in one motion he would quickly catapult the tree up into the air, the projectile traveling with surprising speed. The skarmory was shocked that it the attack managed to reach it. She tried to move away but it was already too late. The smack down impacted and clipped one of her steel plated wings, causing her to come crashing to the ground.

"Very good my friend. Don't bother trying any sort of physical attacks against that heavy plating though. Use Dragon Breath until it is subdued." The serpent slithered forward, his mouth opening wide as he prepared to unleash a draconic gust of wind at the impaired pokemon. But the skarmory wasn't about to go down without a fight. Scrambling to her feet she would flap her good wing with as much force as she could manage, using air cutter to form gusts of sharp wind directed toward the stone serpent. The attack did little against his hard body, but it did manage to chip away a bit at his outer layer.

In response Rock would let out his dragonb breath the attack being enough to cause the skarmory to stumble back and slide along the ground. She would flap her wings once again, this time unleashing a flurry of stars that would home in and slam into Rock's body. But yet again the attacks had little effect, allowing him to continue his dragon breath unimpeded. This time the skarmory lost her footing, slipping off her feet and slamming into a boulder. With that her body went limp as she lost the strength to fight.

Frederick came up along his pokemon, giving him a soft firm pat. "You did exactly as I told you. Very good. Keep this up and you'll be a valued member of the team." Onix nodded quickly at that, the idea of being in a team filling him with a certain warm feeling. It would be nice to have a team to rely on. Much better than living on his own in the wild.

                          

The pair continued to travel for quite a ways, eventually making their way to the riverbed. This seemed to put Rock on edge, who would carefully position himself so that he wouldn't be anywhere near the water. Frederick watched this with raised brows, yet would remain quiet and patient as they walked. It made sense for him to have such a fear, but what if he reacted this way if a water type pokemon were to attack? He couldn't allow a skittish pokemon on the team. Yet he wasn't about to force his pokemon to dive into the water to teach him a lesson. No, that was something he was going to need to learn in battle.

Luckily for the stone serpent that time wasn't today. From across the river floated a bronzong, who seemed disturbed in some way. As if the mere presence of this Onix personally offended it. Seeing this coming Frederick would immediately stop in his tracks, voice raising slightly as he called out to Rock. "There, on the river. Dragon's breath." The onix's eyes widened, initially unsure of what his trainer was referring to. It wasn't until he saw the bronzong that he would finally understand and move to follow his orders. With a deep breath Rock would release a fierce gust of air toward the approaching bronzong, the dragon's breath causing it to falter and lose a bit of the ground it had gained.

Yet it wouldn't go too far, as it would activate it's safeguard shielding it from the adverse effects of the draconic wind. Frederick nodded his head at this, his fingers slipping behind his suspenders as he let out a soft laugh. "I admit I didn't expect that. Keep blowing." Rock would release another stream of intense wind, the strong wind still beating against the steel pokemon's form. While it seemed to sustain some damage it didn't falter this time, allowing it to close the gap and make an attack of it's own.

It reeled back, as if it was going to smack the top of it's bell against it's opposition. Yet before it would swing forward it would suddenly shift to the side, spinning to the side to allow the steel limbs that extended out from the sides to slam against the onix's rocky form. The attack hurt, but it was going to take more than that to stop the giant of a pokemon. "Keep up with the dragon's breath. It's our only option here." It was frustrating to have a pokemon so limited in experience. Hopefully before too much longer he would be capable of doing more than blowing air and chucking rocks.

The battle would rage on for some time, the pokemon exchanging blows with neither one seeming to gain much ground. Both of them had hearty defenses that the other one lacked the strength to fully penetrate. Yet things seemed to turn in Rock's favor as Bronzong's safeguard wore off, allowing the dragon's breath to carry the pokemon back a ways. The steel bell slammed against a tree with considerable force, the impact enough to cause it to drop to the ground and lie still.

With an exhausted sigh Frederick approached his pokemon, giving it a soft pat as he shook his head. "That...wasn't a very good fight. We'll need to work on this. Come on, let's get back to town. You aren't ready for this place yet." Rock drooped at this, sadness showing clear in his eyes. It was true that he wasn't quite up to par with the other pokemon on the team, but he hoped that trying his best would be good enough. Yet it seemed he still had a long ways to go.