A sudden flash of movement caught both human and Pokémon’s attention—unfortunately, as the blur came to a stop it wasn’t what they were looking for.

It was a Beautifly, something he was very familiar with—having seen countless flocks of them migrating across his home region. Before he could remark to his Fire-type that they weren’t alone anymore, the Beautifly used Quiver Dance in order to boost several of its stats all at once. While the dance itself looked beautiful, the Quilava growled at it—picking up the signs of danger coming from it.

“What, you’re seriously going to attack it?!” he remarked, before the flames on the Fire-types back flared up and the Beautifly moved again, this time using Bug Buzz to start the battle off! The high-pitched sound caused both human and Pokémon to cringe—and while the Fire-type had sustained some damage, it wasn’t as noticeable. Looking around, he knew that going crazy in this area would potentially cause everything to catch fire, so he decided to take it slow and steady.

“Aerial aim! Ember it and shoot it down!” he began—while he didn’t have Flamethrower yet, he knew he had to make do with what he had. A burst of flames coming form the Fire-type’s maw caught the Beautifly flitting around as it came close—and used Quiver Dance once again. It was at this point Lars realized that too much of this was going to be a bad thing—and it would become even harder to catch the dual-type that was now flitting around—and suddenly releasing a powdery attack on the wind!

“Ara! Aim another Ember attack on that and incinerate it!” he continued, watching as the incoming Stun Spore raced towards where it stood. Another burst of flames shot towards the incoming cloud that the Beautifly, thankfully the incoming attack was burned up—although there was now a heat haze hanging around the area. “Alright, Ember again!” he went on, watching as the flames then licked at the Beautifly. Just… just how flimsy was the butterfly?

Another burst of flames then licked at its wings, causing it to shriek in pain before it tried to stay airborne. As another Bug Buzz ripped through the clearing, this time Lars was prepared and quickly covered his ears—as the sound was uncomfortable on his part; but much worse on the Quilava. Growling at the Beautifly, it then looked towards Lars, before he nodded his head minutely.

Taking a deep breath, a ray of star-shaped projectiles then came shooting out of the Fire-type’s maw, and Lars blinked—since when did Ara know how to use Swift? Maybe there was something he didn’t know about yet…? He then watched as the Fire-type took charge of the situation, breathing another Ember attack on it to force it to land and cut it off from escaping.

More and more bursts of flame circled around the Beautifly, alternating between Ember and Swift—eventually the Beautifly had passed out from a combination of both attacks. “C’mon, let’s get going…” he muttered, before the Quilava returned towards Lars and they continued their search…

Once the Beautifly had been driven off, the odd traveling duo continued to pick their way through the path—and their next encounter proved to be uninteresting.

Extremely uninteresting.

It only took Lars a few moments to realize that something had landed on his shoulder—and he’d promptly looked at it before quickly shimmying out of the way and brushing it off his shoulders, which then landed with a loud plopping noise against the grass. It was… a Metapod.

“What the hell,” were the first words he muttered once he realized what had caught his attention. The Quilava then turned back to look at what his companion was hollering about, before realizing that they weren’t alone anymore. “Well, Ara, have at it! I’ll let you do your thing first, and if you need help I’ll direct you as needed. You good with that?” he asked the Fire-type before getting a confirmatory nod.

The Metapod then charged forward in a Tackle attack—only to be met with a face-full of flames, courtesy of the Quilava’s Ember attack. The heat caused the Bug-type to back off, before quickly resorting to Harden in order to raise its Defense…which was actually a big mistake in itself. The Quilava squinted at the Metapod, before taking another deep breath and kicking up a cloud of black dust at it, using its Smokescreen attack in order to blind it.

After the Metapod grumbled about the dirt that had been flung in his face, it then tried to roll towards the Quilava again in another Tackle attack—only to end up hitting nothing but air. The Quilava had moved out of the way, before taking another deep breath and peppering the Bug-type with another Ember attack. Much as he wanted to use the other Fire-type attack he knew, it was…pretty absurd for him to even try (and then Lars would get on his case).

Seeing that this was his time to impress his companion (who by now had taken out a cigarette and was smoking while at the same time watching the battle), the Quilava then waited for the Metapod to move. The Bug-type used Harden once again, and if the Quilava could talk, he would’ve said something similar to the lines of grumbling at the sheer monotony of the attacks that his opponent had, before sighing and this time firing off star-shaped projectiles at it.

The Swift attack struck the Metapod head-on, but compared to the flames it had received earlier, this attack didn’t hurt so much. Lars’ eyebrows went up slightly, before he watched the Fire-type charge forward and breathe a full-on blast of Ember in the Bug-type’s face before taking a few steps backwards and waiting for the next move.

The Metapod then attempted another Tackle attack, and while it did end up hitting the Quilava, it didn’t do as much damage—because another peppering shot of flames smacked the Bug-type in the face again, driving it down and away from where they were. Once the wild ‘mon was out of sight, the Fire-type then turned around to look at Lars, before the human nodded in his direction.

“Let’s keep looking…” he muttered as he steered clear of the trees. Who knew what the hell was going to come out of them…

Once the two had managed to place some distance between the place where the Metapod had unceremoniously landed on his shoulder, another Bug-type crossed his path—and unfortunately, while it wasn’t the Scyther he was looking for, it was certainly something familiar to his home region!

Although, where’s its partner? Normally they’re useless on their own… he thought, spotting the familiar visage of a Volbeat emerging from the bush. Before the two could even blink, said Volbeat charged ahead with a Struggle Bug attack—not that Lars knew what it was. He did notice though that instead of going all-out, said Bug-type didn’t put its one hundred percent into the attack. His eyebrows went up slightly, before nodding in the Quilava’s direction.

“Let’s get it out of the way and move as quickly as we can,” he said, waving his hand in the Fire-type’s direction—who then charged forward and kicked up a Smokescreen attack in an attempt to blind the Volbeat so it didn’t end up doing anything too stupid. Letting out a cry of surprise, the Bug-type then charged forward in a Quick Attack, landing a glancing blow against the Fire-type (as its aim had been slightly off) before skidding to a halt and turning around to face the Quilava once more and releasing a bright Flash of light.

Thankfully, the Fire-type hadn’t turned around (and therefore missed the full-force of the blinding light) but it had caught sight of the extended shadows that had been cast due to the earlier attack. “Spin around and Ember quickly!” he called out, seeing that the Volbeat was about to release a much more concentrated, yet equally-sinister looking flash of light. Lars recognized what it was on sight—and knew he had to get rid of it as fast as possible.

Wasting no time, the Fire-type then spun around, releasing a burst of flames from its mouth at the same time the Volbeat had used Confuse Ray in an attempt to confound its opponent. Seeing that the Quilava was now facing it, the status change attack caught it head-on by surprise before it charged forward in another Quick Attack. Oh, shit. This one’s pretty smart… he thought, before looking at the incoming Volbeat.

And I have like a one in two shot of getting this right… let’s try it! he continued to ponder in the back of his mind. “Ara! Wait until the last second before using your Ember attack as it comes close!” he tried, mentally crossing his fingers and hoping for the best. While the Quilava wandered around the nearby area looking drunk, he shook his head before taking a deep breath—but instead of waiting for the Volbeat to come close, he’d hurt himself due to getting Confused!

Oh, shit, I wasn’t expecting my luck to turn sour… he thought angrily as the Volbeat had successfully rammed its smaller body into the larger Fire-type, before using Struggle Bug on it again. “Arashi! Don’t hurt yourself, it’s right in front you! Ember it in the face!” he tried once more, hoping that this time the attack would land. Unfortunately, though, luck wasn’t on his side—as the Fire-type attack ended up shooting towards his feet, where he quickly stamped on it to put it out before it spread too much.

“Oh, come on! Ara! You got this! Let’s try it again! Ember!” he called once again, hoping that this time, the Quilava would listen to him. As the Volbeat continued to attack, the Fire-type then rolled himself up in a ball, before quickly releasing a sudden burst of flames right in the face of the Bug-type. “Alright! That’s nice! Let’s try again! Swift!” he continued, hoping that this time the Quilava would listen. Thankfully, the status change had worn off by this time, and a burst of star-shaped projectiles shot out and smacked the Bug-type as it rolled away from the other.

Without even prompting from his companion, the Fire-type then inhaled and took another breath before launching another Ember attack at it, before following it up with another blast of flames. “Keep it up, drive it back!” he went on, watching as the Fire-type regained its confidence and charged forward in a Tackle attack, before bouncing back on the rebound and releasing another peppering blast of flames. The Volbeat, on the other hand, couldn’t keep up with the onslaught of attacks, and eventually fled from the flames that threatened to toast it alive if it stayed around the area for too long.

“Well, that’s that…” he said with a sigh, shaking his head. His target was out here somewhere, he just had to keep looking…