Preparation: the trick to battle

[Birdybot]

Jane was preparing Mage for another attack, when she saw that Jax had returned his Tailow. What? But two turns of poison and a few Smogs would no way finish a Pokémon! Mage had taken all those hard Pecks, and he was still in there if a little tired! She sighed, but if Jax wanted to give up, so be it. She looked at her Magby. He was rather tired, and although she would like to get him some more levels, she could always battle him against something else later. She withdrew him since he wouldn't stand a chance in another battle.

Jane's hand then moved to her belt, clipping Mage's Pokéball securely to it and moving to a different Pokéball. It didn't matter which of her Pokémon she chose now. She was hoping to fight Jax with no type advantages or disadvantages so that they could both gain maximun levels. Still, this time she just had to hope he wouldn't take an advantage against her, since that would be bad for both trainers. "Go, Sally!" she called, releasing a cheerful Sentret.

[jaxamar]

"Furnblaze, you're up," Jax said, motioning for the Vulpix to move forwards.

The fiery fox took up stance precisely opposite from the Sentret, Sally. He and Jax both nodded.
"Your move," Jax said, eyes glinting.

(Tailow's HP and Spec Def are low because of his type and nature. He would have gone on longer because of the side-effect of the Guts ability, but he would have likely ended up in a very bad way.)

[Birdybot]

Jane was pleased about winning one stage of the fight, but that didn't mean that she would win this one, too. She would still have to keep focused. She looked to Sally, hoping the little Sentret would be strong enough to fight well. She probably was. The ferrety Pokemon was studying her latest opponent carefully, trying to figure out how she would attack Furnblaze when the time came. Jane saw that she had been given the first move, and smiled. Right, she would make good use of this first move, she would be sure of that. "Sally, use a Scratch!" she called before watching the battle between Sentret at Vulpix begin.

Oh, it was good to be on the battlefeild again! Sally, fur was being cooled by the breeze, giving a wonderful feeling, and adrenalin was starting to pump round her body. The Normal type tensed her muscles, getting into her battling mind. Her eyes were locked on Furnblaze, her claws itching to strike. Sentrets were decently speedy, and when Sally lunged for her new opponent, she was actually moving pretty quickly. The Scratch was heading towards the Fire type very quickly, and looked like it would probably hit. At any rate, it would be rather difficult for Furnblaze to dodge this Scratch.

[jaxamar]

Jax nodded and yelled, "Furnblaze! Counter with Ember!"
The orange fox opened his mouth and blasted out the red-hot embers; he took the Scratch on his cheek, and winced, but managed to keep up his attack.

Cyril was doing the same routine as before, bouncing up and down excitedly and waving his two leaves madly.

(Sorry. Uninspired today)

[Birdybot]

ooc// I find that if I have no muse I just force myself to keep going since after all, it's almost always someone else's thread I'm replying to.

Ic// Sally smiled as her Scratch caught Furnblaze on the cheek. A headshot! That had definatly hurt, and the Sentret was certainly pleased about that. The Normal type recognized the Ember as soon as the blazing spark left the Vulpix's smooth muzzle, her little eyes watching it start to travel through the air, judging where it would end up, after this, she quickly sprang to one side in an attempt to dodge. She almost made it, but the full force of the Ember hit her tal painfully, driving it into the ground. Sally whimpered in pain, but Jane remained confident. "Another Scratch, but careful; tail damage might make you off-balance." she called.

Sally completely understood what her trainer was saying, but didn't think that she would be extremely disorientated. How bad could it be? Besides, she wanted to attack again quickly to keel the battle going. The Sentret began to run forwards, but a damaged tail wasn't too much help with balancing and she stumbled. OK, maybe it was bad. She snarled in frustration then tried again. This time, she was a little more used to it, but still wobbly and unlikely to hit with her desperate Scratch attack.

[jaxamar]

Furnblaze jerked his head back reflexively, although the attack would have fallen somewhat short anyway.
He fired another small fireball, jumping away from the Sentret. Despite the cut on his cheek, he could still move fine, unlike the Sentret, who seemed to have been Burned. The fiery fox jumped sideways, and scraped to a halt.

"The cut on his cheek must sting badly," Gareth commented, "He's doing well ignoring it."
"Agreed," Jax said, watching as the little fox gave a cry of challenge to the Sentret.

[Birdybot]

Birdy//

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ooc// Sentret isn't Burned, just off-balance from the tail hit since tails give animals balance.

ic// Sally seemed to be growing more balanced as the pain in her tail faded, although she winced if she moved it too much. She attempted to dodge the Ember, but forgot briefly about her balancing troubles, ending up falling over with the flames licking against her exposed back, making her cry out softly. Jane shook her head; not good. "Sally, you can do this! You need to get used your balance back; try a Defense Curl until then!" she called. After all, she didn't want Sally falling over and hurting herself again.

Sally wondered why Jax wasn't helping his Pokémon at all. Trainers were supposed to tell their Pokémon what to do so they could be even better, yet it seemed that Jax had just stood their commenting on Furnblaze's injuries for this turn, at least. Sally knew from experience that it was good to be able to focus on fighting while your trainer thought up the strategies, and so was glad to obey her trainer. She could see that she would probably have failed at an offensive move, so a defensive move would do something, at least. She curled up, her form flashing as her defense stat rose.

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[jaxamar]

"Careful Furnblaze," Jax advised, "She's definitely off-balance. Use your Ember again!"
Furnblaze obliged, spitting out the fireball. This one moved a lot faster than the last, startling everyone, including Furnblaze.

"What the-?" Jax and Gareth said in unison, as Cyril froze in shock, and Duskull zoomed straight up for several metres, before floating back to the ground.
"What?" Furnblaze said, pausing for a moment, before twitching away, his fur suddenly sticking out at odd angles.

(Up to you what caused this; could be a stray Thunder Wave from another battle or something.)

[Birdybot]

Birdy//

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Jane glared to a battle happening nearby, where a Shinx had just set off a lot of sparks, one which had caught Furnblaze. It seemed to be the edges of a Spark attack, so he shouldn't be paralyzed... permenantly, at least. The trainer had a worried expression on their face. "Ur... sorry, sorry!" they said apologetically, before telling Shinx to be more careful. Sally was distracted by that, and was caught by the Ember; however, her Defense Curl earlier meant she felt less pain from it. "Right, let's try a Quick Attack now!" Jane called.

Sally the Sentret nodded, feeling more used to her tail and more balanced. She waved it gently, testing it. Yes, she should be OK. The Normal type took in deep breaths, hoping she would manage this. She then set off at a run towards Furnblaze, her Quick Attack careful and so not as fast as usual. The momentum helped her balance, and so the Quick Attack was nice, smooth, accurate and likely to hit. However, it didn't look too damaging. All the same, would Sally's Quick Attack prove successful?

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[jaxamar]

The attack did indeed hit, although the damage dealt was limited.
Furnblaze staggered backwards, then opened his mouth and, upon hearing Jax's yell of "Ember!" he spat out a fireball.
"Atchoo!" He sneezed a moment later, blowing out a second fireball, although this one was all flash, with no sting behind it.

[Birdybot]

Sally and Jane both watched as Furnblaze spewed out the usual amount of tiny glowing flames to make up an Ember attack, before doing the same thing again. At first, Sally didn't notice that the second round was just an accidental sneeze, and so was deeply puzzled when her trainer called "Just run through the second round in a Quick Attack!" The Sentret then realized, however, but hadn't been paying attention and the painful dots of flame from the first Ember came over her body like lots of little burning chicken poxes.

Sally, at this point, was panting rather a lot; so much, in fact, that Jane was a bit worried. The ferret knew that she would only manage to take another hit before she fainted, so this turn she needed to strike hard. The Pokrmon had motivation and adrenalin to turn to now for energy boosts, and she got what she was looking for. Sally snarled slightly as she prepared her attack before setting off, pushing off with powerful legs into a speedy run. Her balance was back, and the Sentret raced through the tiny sparks of flame from a sneeze, feeling no pain as she raced for Furnblaze in a very accurate, reasonably strong Quick Attack.

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[jaxamar]

Furnblaze sneezed again, this one so strong he was lifted off the ground. It was accompanied by an accidental Ember attack, blasting hundreds of small fireballs from the Vulpix's mouth and nose. Also, sheerly by chance, the Quick Attack happened to clip his feet on its way past, causing him to spray Sally with the attack at close range. A second later, he landed on his face, and pushed himself up, groaning.

[Birdybot]

Jane seemed a little concerned about Furnblaze's sneezing; Pokemon didn't usually sneeze that much, and the fox had been doing it the past two turns. "Does your Vulpix have hayfever or something? You might want to check to see if he does or not after the battle," she nodded, not one to want Pokemon to be suffering. Sally could see that this time the Ember was from a closer range, and felt that a trainer with any sense would have probably tried to order their Pokemn to attack then anyway. Sally could see that her Quick Attack hadn't been enough to make Furnblaze faint- yet.

Hopefully, the Sentret would be able to dodge the Ember and use another offensive move to won the battle, but she wasn't sure how she would manage to do this. Sally attempted to dodge, and at first seemed to be fast enough. However, the attack caught her own the back leg as she darted away, making her topple over and snarl in pain. Shd collapsed, panting even more heavily as she struggled to keep in the battle with the large amount of damage she'd taken. The Sentret wobbled as she tried to stand up- before falling back down again, eyes closing and fainting. Jane sighed, returning Sally and taking out another Pokeball. Whether or not Jax changed Pokemon, she would use this one.

[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[jaxamar]

"Gatchoo!" Furnblaze sneezed yet again.
Jax raised the small medical device that all Trainers carried. "Head cold," he said, "Nothing serious. Just needs a few days of rest or a quick visit to Nurse Joy, and he'll be fine.

Furnblaze consented to being called back from the battle, and curled up at Jax's feet.
"Duskull," Jax said, looking at his ghost-type, "You're up."

The ghost floated out towards the centre of the field, and hovered there.
"Skull," he said in a bored tone.

[Birdybot]

Birdy//

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Jane watched her opponent send out another Pokémon- a Duskull this time. She smiled. Well, the Pokémon she'd chosen wasn't super effective against him, but at least he wouldn't be at a disadvantage like a lot of Pokémon would be. She threw the Pokéball, and in a flash of red light emerged her chosen Pokémon; a huge, glaring steel bird; a Skarmory. How she managed to catch this Pokémon was a bit of a mystery, so there was a possibility that he was her starter or something.

"Rory, quick, let's go! Peck!" she called, sending the bird into attack mode. Rory the Skarmory flapped his stiff metal wings, somehow managing to lift himself into the air. The Steel and Flying type looked at Duskull with great concentration, judging his attack and taking aim. The bird then shot towards his opponent, iron beak ready to peck a harsh attack at the ghost. The Peck looked accurate, fast and powerful, but would leave Rory at a close range for any attacks Duskull might want to inflict.

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