As the Fire-type continued to sniff around in the grass, taking in all the new sights and smells, a voice caught Lars’ attention, and he turned around on the spot—only to see another person out there, this time with what he recognized was a Dragon-type (but forgot the name of) and promptly introduced himself as Derek.

That’s not a terrible idea. More eyes, more ears make sense, he thought to himself for a few moments before he introduced himself and his companion as well. “I’m Lars, and the Cyndaquil’s name is Arashi. But I call him Ara for short,” he spoke up at last, before tilting his head in the Fire-type’s direction, who then looked up and gave a curious sniff at the air before looking over curiously at the Gible—and immediately the Fire-type recoiled for the briefest of moments at the outward display of aggression that the Dragon-type was already displaying.

Was that a glare, and the jaw sticking out? The Fire-type continued to look curiously at the other Pokémon, before eventually snapping its head around and facing the opposite direction of where they stood. It had heard something a few moments before Lars had picked up on the scuffling noise, and out came a floating flower with a face. An absolutely derpy face. Not too far behind it was a crab that walked sideways… and looked much more threatening with its pincers.

“That was quick,” he exclaimed, eyebrows going up slightly as he saw the Grass, and Water-type headed their way. No sooner had he said these words did the Skiploom use a Fairy Wind attack before making a barrel roll maneuver right towards the Cyndaquil to engage it in a fight! “Ara, I hope your aerial aim’s good… try to shoot it down to the grass with an Ember attack, only be careful and try not to set everything around here on fire!” he began as the Fire-type leapt into action, wincing slightly as the Fairy-type attack smacked it head-on in the face and caused him to yelp out of surprise at getting caught off-guard.

A sudden burst of flames came shooting up from the Fire-type, who by now had recovered his bearing and was now focusing on the small airborne Fairy-type (Lars assumed it to be a Fairy-type at first at least until the flames dealt a significant amount of damage) before some of the flames hit it and let out a pained cry of shock—how had that been super-effective? He was only aware of seventeen types…

Guess it’s time to review my Pokédex when I’m not too busy with things… he thought to himself as the Skiploom then veered around and attempted to use Absorb this time—something he definitely recognized. “Catch it off-guard with another Ember attack, go!” he continued, and the Fire-type quickly nodded before another stream of flames erupted from its maw, catching the incoming Skiploom head-on in a miniature explosion of flames. While not as powerful as Flamethrower, it certainly did the job—but the Fire-type still felt the effects of the Absorb as it hit him and tried to sap him of his energy.

“When it comes close enough, use a Tackle attack on it! Follow up with another Ember attack after you roll away from it!” he went on, watching as the Skiploom attempted another Fairy Wind attack—only to be met with an incoming ball of Fire-type as the Cyndaquil launched itself at the low-flying Grass-type in a full-out Tackle attack. Despite the Fairy-type attack hitting it from all directions, the Cyndaquil gritted its teeth and bore through the pain as it then bounced off and away from the Skiploom and eventually drove it back with another Ember attack, causing it to drift back in the direction it had come from in order to tend to its wounds.

“That was a little touch and go there, Ara. But you did well,” he said as he quickly approached the Fire-type and gave it a pat on the head for a job well done. “How’re you holding up over there, Derek?” he called out to his companion a few moments later.

[attr="class","Vgentempbox"]

[attr="class","Vgentempbox"]

“Hopefully we don’t encounter something with vines—” he began in Derek’s direction, before seeing that there were two more headed his way, hopefully this was the last wave of attackers? “I’ll get back to you on that, but I’m after this one,” he gestured at the Water-type.

Now, normally as a Trainer he’d switch out and go for Suijin in this instance (even if Water-on-Water wasn’t an equal matchup) but there was…something that tickled him in the back of his mind. Something that he knew he’d read before, about someone looking for one of these absolute derp-faced ducks somewhere…

Oh, screw it, I’m going for it, he thought to himself, looking at his Cyndaquil. “You up for the challenge? I know you’re at a disadvantage, but I believe with your wits, we got this,” he asked his Fire-type, and the Cyndaquil looked at him with a contemplative look… before looking over at the Psyduck, who was staring at them both—like it was thinking of something else as well.

The wait felt like forever, but with an incline of his head, the Fire-type then took point once more, this time facing off against the Psyduck. We’re going to need a shitload of luck to survive this. Considering I’m going to be doing something absolutely reckless, I hope this works! He continued to himself in the back of his mind—when right then and there the Psyduck launched a Confusion attack at the Fire-type!

“Whoa, Ara! We didn’t do anything! It attacked first, get back at it with Leer!” he began, stepping back to give the Cyndaquil more room as it then opened its eyes and gave a look so hideous it was traumatizing—at least for the Water-type. In response, the Psyduck then turned tail—and used its Tail Whip, literally mooning the Fire-type in retaliation.

Geez, what did I just see… he thought to himself as he smacked a palm to his forehead at the display. The Cyndaquil didn’t like this at all, and quickly turned back to face Lars, who by now was looking down at the Fire-type. “Be careful when you do your thing, please. Tackle it, show it who’s boss!” he continued, and the Fire-type gleefully barrel-rolled itself right into the Water-type, throwing the full force of its body weight in its Tackle attack.

While that startled the Psyduck some, it then unleashed Confusion once again, and the Cyndaquil let out a yelp of surprise at the sudden close-range attack—oww, that hurt! Bouncing back after its attack to give himself more room, he added, “Alright, throw up a Smokescreen, that’ll help somewhat!” and a dust cloud was immediately kicked up straight into the Psyduck’s line of vision; hopefully lowering its accuracy in the process. As the Fire-type backed away and watched the Water-type waddling around like some punch-drunk… well, a punch-drunk bipedal, the Psyduck then began quacking—really loudly.

“Oh, hell no,” was all Lars had time for before the quacking noise grew incessantly in volume as one of its infamous headaches struck it, and another Confusion attack was launched at the Cyndaquil—or at least, where it thought it saw the Fire-type standing. Only it hit a patch of grass instead, and the two saw a chance! “Alright Ara, go up close and Tackle it again!” he went on, watching as the Cyndaquil barrel-rolled once more and literally threw its entire body weight right on the Psyduck in an attempt to shove it back.

The quacking still wouldn’t stop, though.

Come on, what the hell’s going on?! He thought as the Psyduck attempted to use its Water Gun attack—and this time scored a direct hit on the Cyndaquil. Hearing the surprised cry of pain coming from the Fire-type, Lars knew he was in trouble—how many ‘mons had Ara fought before, like two? And this was the third, and he knew he had to end it, and fast!

“Smokescreen it again!”

Another black dust cloud was kicked up in the Psyduck’s face, which caused said quacking to get even worse; and he was pretty sure Derek could hear it over where he was battling the other ‘mon right now. As its headache got even worse, another Confusion attack was thrown—and this time, it scored a hit on the Cyndaquil. “Ara! Don’t give up! We still got this! Tackle it one more time!” he shouted, mentally crossing his fingers and hoping for the best.

Despite the pain that the Fire-type was enduring, it nodded with a grim set on its face—determined not to lose face in front of his companion. Charging forward in its favored barrel-roll, the Fire-type then threw another full-force Tackle at the Psyduck—but the quacking still wouldn’t stop! What the hell!

Lars was tempted to drag both hands down his face at this point, but the Psyduck was now basically going off like a firecracker—trying to get rid of the dust in its eyes while flailing around. “Alright, Ara! Tackle it, one more time, and hopefully it keeps quiet this time!” he said a few moments later, and with a look of crazed glee on its face, the Cyndaquil charged forward again, smacking the Psyduck in one more Tackle attack—and this time the Psyduck’s noisy tirade went quiet as it folded on the grass.

“Well that was…eventful, for the most part…” he muttered to himself as he quickly pulled out an empty containment unit and popped it to full size, before watching the red beam of light absorb the Psyduck and watching as it fell to the grass…