satisfied with their decision making skills, the pair began to make their way out. when something red caught nat's eye, she stopped and motioned for delta to do the same. "hello?" she called out, a bit hesitant. perhaps she had mistaken one of the many roses for something it wasn't? that unfortunately wasn't the case, however. from behind one of the dense trunks of a tree came waddling out a magby. natalie had to suppress her surprise. she certainly didn't take this an area for fire-types to wander around to bluntly. after all, such a beautiful park could very easily go down in flames.

"uhm, are you lost?" her voice was polite, yet she kept her distance. wild pokemon were hit and miss, especially so close to town where their wariness towards humans were minimal. in truth she felt a bit silly asking the small pokemon a question she knew it couldn't answer. her hope for communication was all she had in truth. with arms spread wide and a lowered head, the only answer she received was smoke billowing from it's maw. before she could consider the situation further, delta stepped forward. "oh, I see! our first battle then! okay delta, let's do this. start us off with..a sand-attack! use the soil around us."

with reflexes only a pokemon could truly pull off, the eevee shot to her left and into a small bed of flowers. within' seconds small clumps of dirt, soil and grass were flung¹ with relative accuracy at the fire-type ahead of them. small crimson hands were slow in their movement to shield from the onslaught. seeing the distraction had worked, nat pressed on. "okay, quick, while it's distracted use covet!"² pushing her back paws into the soil, delta sprang forth and bounded across the stone pathway. a trail of dirt followed her, but was the least of the normal-type's concerns. no sooner had her paw come up and landed squarely on the magby's cheek did a ball of flame's³ engulf her chest and send her reeling nearly five feet.

"it's okay, get back up delta! we almost have it!" her eevee stood in response, shaking off the attack and squaring herself once more. her opponent didn't seem experienced when it came to battle, and the fatigue on it's face was unmistakable. one more attack had to finish it! "good job sweetie! now let's end this," she formed a fist and held it in front of her once more. azure colored eyes locked onto the large tree behind the magby and an idea formed. "delta, i have an idea. use tackle and send it into the tree to finish it." her pokemon's eyes followed the command towards the tree in question, and with a 'yip!' of agreement, she pushed off and raced towards her opponent once more.

not too keen on getting hit again, magby's instincts took over. if this brown ball of fur wanted a close up battle, she would give her one. holding her fist up, much like the human before her, it's form began to change. the closed fist, a ball of concentrated fire⁴, shot forth to meet the pokemon before her. but delta was no fool. in fact, this would be the help she needed. as the fire type stepped forward, leaning her weight onto one foot, delta ducked and put every ounce of what she had into her shoulder⁵. the soft under belly was ripe for the taking. the force of the blow sending her opponent towards the base of the tree behind her. she was out before touching the ground.

"oh my gosh delta! you did it!" her smile reached from ear to ear as she raced over to give her pokemon a hug. "i'm so proud of you, our first battle together!" despite the celebrations, she couldn't help but feel a bit bad for the wild pokemon before her. "let's.. let it be okay? i don't want to be here when she wakes up. who knows what a bruised ego might do." with a final solemn look, she began to walk back, delta in tow beside her. what else would surprise her today?

delta - o7 ^{5+2
1-sand-attack, 2-covet, 3-ember, 4-fire punch, 5- tackle}

if someone had been watching natalie at this very moment, her actions might've seemed laughable. having not even left the city yet, the very same city she had grown up in and lived for the past twenty-four years, nat found herself.. lost. she had been directionaly challenged since birth, her dad once told their neighbors in front of her. and now she was just proving him right. delta looked at her with a raised brow, all too knowing what was going on. "don't look at me like that," she huffed out, "we're not lost. just... on a detour. yeah, the scenic route is all." to further her stubbornness, she began walking faster causing the eevee to further her gait to match.

before them, hanging from a tree not to far off, a burmy rested. their conversation - if you could call it that - seemed to wake it. as they passed it detached itself and fell. "huh," she let out mindlessly, the grass-type falling just mere feet from her. "what the heck is that?" delta got in-between them, the upset squeaks and facial expression of the burmy all too readable. "another one?" natalie sounded tired and with a sigh did her best to motivate herself. "okay, another one then! let's beat this and go home and pack before it gets dark." furrowing her brow, she assessed the situation. it looked weaker than the one before, and that's what she was relying on. "let's see if we can end this quicker than last time. delta, tackle!" it had no real arms or legs to note.. it was a sitting psyduck!

back by her trainer, delta once more 'yiped' in agreement as she bound forth. like the magby before, she aimed to end this quickly. tucking in her shoulder she left the ground for a full force tackle¹. in front of her eyes a shimmer formed and her opponent encased itself in an emerald-like shield.² her body felt nothing but the force of a near invisible wall, falling to the earth. standing, delta shook it off and took a few steps back. when the shield dropped they were once more staring one another down. it seemed content to play defense, however, the grass-type not making a move to attack.

"we have to fake it out. make it think we're attacking so it uses that... bubble thing again. then we can strike!" despite relative inexperience in battling, even she could see that nothing her eevee had would break that cursed bubble. "let's try a sand-attack - overwhelm it!" delta did as instructed, jumping into a bed of soil and furiously barraging the weird looking pokemon with an array of dirt, mud, soil and grime.³ their plan seemed to work too, as not mere moments later the burmy erected it's protect⁴again. now it was a waiting game.

"come on.... come on.... now!" she exclaimed as the bubble fell. like before, the normal-type bound forth and gave every ounce of what she had into her dive at the creature. try as it might, only green sparks ignited in front of it, the protective shield unable to form to stop this incoming blow. with savage strength, shoulder met face⁵ and the wild pokemon fell with shallow breathes. "good job delta! you did it!" they had won their second battle thus far!

delta - o9^{7+2
1-tackle, 2-protect, 3-sand-attack, 4-protect, 5- tackle}

the evening was breaking over the horizon as nat and her pokemon were still not back yet. the duo did not intend to be out this long, that was telling. natalie looked tired as she made the trot alone, and delta was no where to be found having been put inside the dual colored orb not too long ago. "so close, jeez, my feet are killing me," the breeder said to no one in particular. she stopped and leaned against a nearby bench, lifting her leg up and stretching it a little. illuminated by the streetlight, the darkness seemed to echo out towards her. a shiver ran up her spine. leaves crunched under the heel of an unknown force. nervously, she looked for a source but found nothing. reaching into her bag she grabbed delta's pokeball and summoned her.

"there's something out here delt..." there was a hint of fear in her voice the eevee could tell. spreading her paws out, she centered herself in front of the breeder. nothing would get past her, she would make sure of it. a glint of silver under the light of the moon forced natalie's attention to her right.

"delta, there!" her pokemon's attention shifted with the point of nat's finger. she could just make out the shape of a pokemon, small, flamboyant red markings that appeared more like bloody appendages under the cover of dark. she made her move before being told too. the normal-type charged forth, tucking her shoulder in and rammed the dual-type before her.¹ the effort of the collision causing them both to tumble over one another before finding their footing mere meters from one another. the attack seemed to take the sneasel by surprise, it's small hands dusting itself off before tensing it's muscles and leaping at it's opponent.

"keep it up!" she yelled back in encouragement, unsure of what exactly was happening under the blanket of dark before her. once again reaching into her bag she half reached for, half fumbled around as soft hands wrapped around the intended target - her phone. in seconds the flashlight feature was selected and the battle illuminated. in the time between eevee leaping forth and natalie retrieving her phone, it seemed that the two had gone at it a bit more. small traces of broken skin and a trickle of blood oozed from a scratch² at eevee's side, and the hit from earlier seemed to give the ice type a small bruise on her abdomen.

"oh no," nat whispered to herself. she feared the two battles before had taken too much out of the normal-type. did delta have the energy she needed to win this? for now the two circled one another, each one waiting for the opening they needed. here she was just simply watching, helpless. no... she needed to show delta she was here for her.

"delt, you got this, okay! use growl. show her you're not messing around." the low rumble in her throat was unmistakable.³ before her the sneasel hesitated for a moment then found her nerve, raising her hand in a 'come forth' motion⁴. it seemed to work as eevee's irritation heightened. shooting forward she raised her paw and brought it down a top the shoulder of her opponent⁵. but the sneasel had expected this, raising it's own claw and taking a scratch out of her other side⁶. once more, they were at a stand still.

"it's getting cocky delt!" she yelled out hoping to catch the eevee's attention. it shook it's head clear of the bait maneuver and listened. with the wild pokemon's back to nat she could see the creature tense up, feet pushing itself deeper and all around taking a more squat like appearance. it was going to strike!

"hold your ground. put everything you have into this next attack. use it's weight against it!" like the sneasel before her, eevee centered itself. if her knuckles could go white they surely would have. at any moment she felt like she could explode as if she was a rocket. narrowing her eyes, she waited. it seemed as if forever went by, but in reality on mere seconds, as the sneasel exploded forth much, much faster than before⁷. she would only have one chance to get this right.

right as her opponent was a top her she put every ounce of her being into her tackle - though more a spear at this point - as she aimed for the mid section.⁸ going so fast worked against the attacking dual-type, the hit expelling whatever air she had in her out and sending her rolling back into a nearby flower bed. but it had it's effects on eevee as well. it stood there, barely, breathe heavy and a heavy lean onto her opposite paw. it seemed the shoulder had it's fair share of blunt pain today.

"oh delta, i'm so sorry! you did fantastic. this is the last one tonight, i promise. next time, i'll run as fast as i can okay?" her gaze shifted towards the downed ice and dark type as she bit her lip. it had been a worthy challenger, and no doubt a strong pokemon. she knew what she had to do. taking a spare orb from her bag she tossed it towards the sneasel and watched as it absorbed it into the capsule. natalie's jaw clenched watching, waiting for any signs of capture⁹.

delta - 11<sup>9+2

1-tackle, 2-scratch, 3-growl, 4-taunt, 5-covet, 6-scratch, 7-quick attack, 8-tackle, 9-capture attempt
delta forgot covet..
..delta learned swift!</sup>