@tagname wc: 640

Just as Cyn had predicted, it had taken Eric over ten minutes to find the perfect in battle picture to take. He had all the right filters and stickers and hashtags and emojis. Yet he found the likes and re-shares coming in slowly. Eric groaned as a brief memory of the good old times came back to him. He would post any picture, even something silly, and within five minutes his phone would be vibrating with alerts so much so he would have to mute it.

Okay so, he was trying to rebuild his reputation but it couldn't have been that ruined, could it? As the likes hit a measly one hundred he groaned into the heavens. Part of him wished to fall to his knees and demand an answer from the gods that may be. Why was his career not picking up quickly?

Clearly the answer was he was still not relatable. Despite his epic battle pictures it wasn't enough. His fans wanted more pokemon pictures, that HAD to be it! Sighing, Eric ran a frustrated hand through his blue hair and looked down at his two pokemon. Starly continued to twitch ever so, the effects of the paralysis not evening attempting to be shaken off. Cyn looked curiously back up at his trainer as Eric bent down and picked up the sound asleep bird pokemon and tucked him into the nook of his arm.

"Alright Cyn, we are going to try those pictures again... Let's see if we can find a pokemon, and there!" Eric pointed towards the Ledyba who would float by, stopping occasionally at the flowers nearby.

"We are going to go in hot, you take that bug type out quick and I'll get some nice shots. That's what my fans want right now Cyn." Eric said with forced confidence, as if his words could convince himself.

Cyn shrugged his shoulders. This was not the adventure he had wanted but at least Eric was finally training him like he was supposed to. So what if the training was simply to further his career, at least they were outside in the real world... A thing the fire type had wanted for quite some time.

The Cyndaquil would waddle his way over towards the bug type that was paying it no mind and wait patiently for Eric's first command. When none came he looked back towards his trainer, finding him lost in his phone. Eric was smiling and quickly replying to all the few comments that had poured in on his latest reposting.

<"Cynnnnnnnnnda!"> Cyn whined, clearly demanding his trainer hurry up.

"Oh, right uh... One second." Eric said, barely looking up from his phone as he approached and pointed his phone at his pokemon, camera on and ready. "Let's use your type advantage and end this quick. Use ember."

Cyn grumbled as if to say 'about time' but did as he was told. Sitting on his haunched he leaned back and shot out a stream of hot embers at the Ledyba. Of course the bug type had also stopped what it was doing to survey the pair as Cyn had waited for orders and had been anticipating the fight. Ledyba was able to dodge the attack to a degree, the searing fire attack only grazing her side.

Ledyba counted with a super sonic attack which confused Cyn the instant it touched him. The fire type stumbled back and looked around with bleary eyes. Eric scowled as he caught sight of his pokemon, the pictures of him getting his ass kicked so early wasn't pleasant and sure wouldn't be posted. "Shake it off Cyn, use ember again!"

Cyn did his best to comply by attempt to stand ... And face plant, injuring himself in the process. Ledyba laughed at the unfortunate situation before countering with a tackle, adding insult to injury on the confused fire type.

"Get up Cyn!" Eric cried, "Use ember, come on! We cannot lose to a freakin' bug!"

Cyn shook his face as he sat up and launched an ember attack. By sheer stroke of luck Ledyba took the full brunt of the attack and fell to the sky, the underside of her body burned and charred. She lay on her shell, crying in pain. "End it Cyn, use swift!" He called, before the pokemon could counter with another attack.

Snapping from his confusing Cyn did as he was told, his small body ramming into the Ledbya and knocking it unconscious.

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@tagname wc: 746

Eric would later blame his fate on how brutally he had commanded his fire type to take on the Ledyba, even ordering an attack after the pokemon was clearly no longer fit to fight. Upon the completion of his battle and the subsequent selfies he took next to the charred and fainted body of the bug type the man would completely miss the Burmy slowly working her way down a nearby tree, having see the rather unfair battle.

She was practically fumy, her small cheeks red as she was barely able to contain her nasty words towards the man. Cyn would watch this pokemon descend from the tree, pulling at his trainer's pant leg to get him to focus on anything but swiping through the filters he was going to apply to the perfect selfie with the downed pokemon in the background.

Burmy would teeter over to Eric, ignoring Cyn completely, an bite deeply into his ankle. He would howl in anger, dropping his phone and he tried to kick away the pesky bug pokemon he only now noticed. Cyn could do nothing but shake his head as he back peddled away from his flailing trainer.

Starly awoke from his nap and cooed in curiosity as to why his perch was suddenly flailing so hard. Opening his wings he would drift to the ground and stand next to Cyn. Again he would coo curiously at the situation and Cyn simply shrugged defeated and shook his head, clearly indicating he was no longer interested in defending his trainer.

Starly realized his trainer would not stop the rapid flailing until the pesky bug pokemon was removed. Yawning and slowly stretching his wings Starly hopped forward towards where Eric was now attempting to kick off the Burmy and tackled her.

The simple attack managed to dislodge the pokemon, leaving her looking rather confused at the flying type. How dare he attack her! She was only trying to teach this rude trainer a lesson! Suddenly the Burmy's rage was turned on Starly. Burmy launched herself, fangs barred in her tiny mouth, in an effort to land another bug bite on the insolent pokemon attacking her.

Eric would look down at his now free ankle, noticing the droplets of blood that began to stain his jeans. The Burmy was not the only one seeing red as Starly was bitten by Burmy. He seemed to shrug off the attack, ruffling his feathers to shake himself free. "That's right Starly! Now use feather dance, let's show this stupid pokemon what we're made of." Eric called out, ready to have his type advantage and powered up attack stats take down the pokemon.

Burmy was no fool. Upon seeing the pokemon seem to shake and shimmy she curled up and used protect, effectively keeping herself safe from what was to come. Unsure of why Burmy had stopped moving Eric called out another attack, "Tackle, Starly!"

Starly did as he was told, smashing his body into the bug type only to find her unflinching, unaffected by attack. With him in such close proximity she countered with another tackle, knocking the flying type back painfully.

It was then that Eric realized that his Starly wasn't as fit for the battle as he seemed but he was determined to win against the aggressive Burmy. Still Eric wasn't ready to call it. He still had the type advantage and he hoped it would be enough. "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about... Get back in there, use roost!" Eric called, hoping the little rest would help revive him somewhat. The simple act of resting seemed to do the trick and Starly felt better almost instantly.

Burmy was waiting for the return of her opponent. She used bug bite once again, hoping her sharp teeth would scare off her opponent. Starly took the hits like a champ, waiting for her to quit lashing against his body as he yawned. "Now, end this. Tackle!" Eric called once again.

This time his attack made direct contact with the soft body of Burmy, knocking her back and causing her to faint from the sheer force. Eric smirked as he watched the pokemon lay still on the ground. "Freakin' A, Starly, I know you had it in you." Eric would congratulate his normally sleepy pokemon as he pulled a potion from his bag, spritzing his injured pokemon with it.

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@tagname wc: 730