Battles between Rivals Pt. 3

Vali re-entered the trainers box and nodded to Zaria while noting the grass field feeling thankful that they'd gotten lucky once more. She released Pele onto the field with Zaria releasing a Sneasel. To Zaria and the crowd's surprise, the fire-type master-in-training immediately said, "I forfeit Pele."

Vali returned Pale immediately and pulled out a diffrent pokeball as Zaria asked, "But why?"

"That Hyper Beam of Moon did internal damage, I won't risk Pele's life over a battle especially against a dear friend," Vali smiled lightly, "Come out and battle with me, my friend," Arwen appeared on the field earning a surprised look from Zaria who'd likely believed that the Ponyta wouldn't be making an appearance, "Arwen, let's give our friends a taste of our training. Flame Charge!"

Arwen took off with a whiny as fire flared to life around her and Sneasel had to move quickly in order to dodge the attack heading towards it. Arwen paired Flame Charge with Stomp and Ember. Sneasel did its best to dodge and attack back with Icy Wind. Sneasel stumbled and Arwen slammed into it sending the sharp claw pokemon flying with a sharp cry of pain as her Flame Charge began to burn it. Sneasel quickly got back up and retaliated with Ice Shard that Arwen darted out of the way of. Arwen stomped her hoof and pawed at the ground with a neigh earning a snarl from Sneasel. Zaria shouted, "Sneasel, Underground! This one isn't something we can beat normally, we're going to have to play things out a diffrent way."

Sneasel growled before quickly digging into the ground and disappearing just as Arwen raced towards it with another Flame Charge. Vali frowned softly as she considered the options they could take, "Arwen, Sunny Day."

Arwen began pacing around the field as she obeyed the order and Vali tried to work out a plan. The match up wasn't a good one especially since Arwen wouldn't be able to dig after Sneasel unlike Balto. Perhaps she'd been too hasty in her decision, she internally sighed at the the thought before banishing it and focusing on the battlefield a bit more closely. Sneasel was likely lying in wait and trying to pin-point the best possible way to get the jump on Arwen. She glanced down at Aragorn who was looking at the battlefield intently and inwardly smiled at the sight. It showed he was doing his best to learn which was a good thing and meant they'd be starting off well when it got to his time to finally battle someone. She looked back up and spotted Arwen slowing down slightly as Zaria shouted, "Now, Sneasel!"

"Arwen, Flame Wheel!" Vali shouted as Sneasel burst out of the ground by Arwen.

Sneasel landed on Arwen's back with silvery claws clearly intent on causing pain and dug them in. Vali's warning didn't come in time to stop that, but Arwen managed to hear her through the pain. Fire exploded outward burning Sneasel, it didn't cause the small pokemon to let go immediately. Arwen began to race around as Sneasel screamed in pain and Vali grimaced hoping the little pokemon let go soon. When Sneasel finally let go, it fell to the ground and the two trainers let out horrified gasps at the sight of Sneasel's burned fur. Well, what was left of it. Zaria returned Sneasel, "I'm so sorry, Sneasel."

"Please tell me how Sneasel is and if it needs anything," Vali said with a horrified look on her face, "I'm so sorry,"

Zaria nodded with a grimace, "I will," She took out a diffrent pokeball, "I'll definitely have to think of something to prevent that from happening again," She closed her eyes briefly likely working to center herself before opening them, "But now is not the time to dwell on it, we have to battle. While not a dark-type like the rest of my team, she's still dear to me and will hopefully give us the edge we need against you! Let the ground break apart and the dead's baleful eyes stare forth at our enemies, Grim!"

A Marowak appeared on the field wielding a longer than usual bone club. The Marowak let out a cheerful cry and began to dance lightly around earning a few chuckles from the crowd. Vali's heart felt a bit lighter at the sight of Grim who's cheerful and playful nature rarely seemed to stray. Zaria could have chosen a diffrent pokemon to use before resorting to her starter, but likely wanted the light hearted option that had the added bonus of giving her a type advantage. Smiling lightly, she spoke as Arwen neighed a greeting to Grim, "Grim hasn't lost her cheerful edge. Are those feathers I see?"

"She wanted them from Murkrow," Zaria shrugged lightly, "So long as they don't fight about it, I'm not going to comment. Grim, we need to finish this fast. Arwen's already hurt thanks to Sneasel, so make it quick for her. Bonemerage,"

Grim let out a shout and threw her club at Arwen who took off at a run that was a lot slower than before showing that the injuries Sneasel had given her were definitely taking their toll. Arwen attacked back with Ember and Flame Charge that Grim quickly dodged. Grim showed how accurate she was by managing to hit Arwen's speedy flame covered form as it raced across the field with another Bonemerage. Arwen's flames sputtered and died as the Ponyta skidded to a halt after the attack. Arwen wasn't unconscious, but she was definitely dazed. Vali took out the Ponyta's pokeball knowing that this was the end of the battle and returned her pokemon deciding it was better to avoid stressing the possible concussion. While pokemon were tougher than humans, a concussion was no laughing matter regardless of species and Arwen had done enough as it was.

"Come out and battle with me, my friend," Smaug appeared on the field with a roar and Zaria grimaced a bit at the sight, "Smaug, we're down to the last two pokemon on Zaria's team and the final three for us. I'm counting on you to ensure our pack doesn't need to extend anymore hands into the fight," Smaug's eyes narrowed as he nodded, "You know what to do,"

Smaug began to the battle with Smokescreen earning a chuckle from Zaria, "Based on that one battle I saw in the replays, I can't say what you're going to have him do with that."

"That's the fun of it, isn't it?" Vali replied with a grin.

"It's a good strategy though useless if there is a flying or psychic-type capable of getting rid of the smoke," Zaria replied earning a shrug.

"I'm aware, but it's perfect for situations like this," Vali watched Smaug pull out of the clouds avoiding the Bonemerage that had been heading toward him and lit it on fire causing an explosion, "Strategies are made to be adjusted after all,"

Grim was a bit burnt, but no worse for wear thanks to her species' natural high defense. Grim's eyes narrowed at Smaug and she used Bonemerage again. Thanks to his wings and excellent vision, he was easily able to dodge the attack. Smaug decided to play it smart for the most part keeping his attacks at a distance with Air Slash, Flamethrower, and Dragon Rage. When felt it worth the risk, Smaug got in close enough to attack with Iron Tail, Slash, and Fire Punch. Grim managed to score a few hits and nearly managed to get Smaug with a Thunder Punch. The battle ended with another one of Smaug's burning cloud's. There was a small sigh from Zaria as she returned Grim and pulled out Zorua's pokeball, "I was kind of hoping I'd managed to get us on an even level, ya know."

"There's always next time," Vali offered earning a small chuckle.

"True," Zaria released Zorua, "Entangle the senses and fool the mind, Zorua," A Charizard appeared across the field and Vali inwardly grinned at the confused looks on everyone's faces likely at the lack of diffrent pokemon, "Okay, Bud. You know what to do!"

"Smaug, let's get that fox!" Vali shouted in return inwardly laughing.

The fake Charizard flew upwards towards Smaug with some competency showing that it had practice meaning that Zaria had likely been training Zorua with Murkrow. Now you would think that Zaria wouldn't let Zorua go after Smaug in an aerial battle given how fragile the Illusion ability was, Illusion wouldn't actually be disrupted unless a few key factors were introduced. The first was pain which was easier to do when the Zorua/Zoroark were young. The second was over saturation which occurred when another type of energy was injected into the cloak of specialized dark-type energy the species used to fool the senses to the point they couldn't hold up the cloak anymore. So Zaria was safe enough to send Zorua into an aerial battle with Smaug for the moment, the older girl would have to be very careful though and make sure they were grounded before Zorua's Illusion was broken.

Smaug slammed into Zorua with a fiery snarl as the fake Charizard used Pursuit. The two grappled with Zorua doing his damnedest to avoid being caught by the fire filled maw attempting to snap at him. Zorua released a pulsing ball of dark-type energy from its mouth forcing Smaug to break away in order to not get hit. Zorua's attack managed to scratch Smaug, but the Charizard dodged it for the most part. Smaug began using Flamethrower and Dragon Rage forcing Zorua to evade the attacks. Without pausing for a single second, Smaug gave chase and the two put on a show for the crowd. Eventually one of the attacks hit and broke Zorua's illusion causing the fox to hit the ground with a loud cry of pain, the blue-green flames of Dragon Rage overwhelming the dark-type illusion.

"It looks like the jig is up for Zaria and her Zorua!" The announcer shouted as the crowd roared its approval, "I wonder if they'll be able to recover from this blow or if Vali and Smaug will seal their win with this battle,"

"Zorua, you okay, bud?" Zaria asked with a slight frown as Smaug's attack stopped and Zorua rose up with a soft yip, "Alright, we can't fly anymore, but that doesn't mean we can't keep fighting," Zorua let out a determined bark and gave Smaug a glare as he got into a new attack stance, "Let's attack with Shadow Ball!"

Zorua charged it up quickly and sent it at Smaug who easily dodged the attack. Smaug sent a Flamethrower towards Zorua and swept towards the fox with his claws glowing silver. Zorua dodged the flames and jumped up to dodge Smaug's attack before taking off using Agility. A game of cat and mouse began with Zorua adding in his ability to use Dig. Scorching flames and inky dark-type energy went flying as the two attacked one another, Zorua showed that just because he was a first evolution pokemon didn't mean he couldn't stand a chance against a fully evolved one. But there was a limit of what he could do especially with how far he'd been pushed during the last couple of battles even with the rest he'd been given, the way Zorua began to falter after a little while slowly at first showed it.

Zorua's Agility fulled run began to reach its limits which were much higher than most pokemon outside of pokemon like Arcanine and Rapidash could hope to reach. The moment Zorua's black form slipped out of Agility saw Smaug slamming into him with Steel Wing. The scarcely used attack sent him upward with Smaug following quickly afterward to followup with a Fire Punch that sent Zorua back down to earth. Zorua landed harshly, but quickly rose up. Zorua had to move quickly to dodge the follow up Flamethrower and sent a Dark Pulse to get some breathing room. Vali noted the condition Zorua was in and commented, "It looks like Zorua is reaching his limit, Zaria. He's doing admirably, but he won't last much longer."

With how harshly Zorua was breathing and the way he couldn't keep his weight on his right back paw, he wouldn't last much longer at all. The heat was definitely getting to Zorua as well and Smaug's heavy handedness probably wasn't helping much. Zaria looked at Vali then at her pokemon before shouting, "Zorua, can you continue?" Zorua barked with determination on his face, "We may not win this, but we're going to continue until its over."

Vali let out a low chuckle and nodded, "As you wish, I admire the fire that burns in your spirit as the same one burns just as brightly within my own," She pressed a hand to her heart before looking at Smaug, "Smaug, let's end this quickly then so Zorua can get some much needed rest!"

Smaug roared in agreement and swept towards Zorua once more. Smaug released another Smokescreen and caused it to explode. Rather than allow it to fade as it had before, Smaug used Wing Attack and Zorua was revealed barely conscious. It was likely that Zorua would've used Dig to get away from the explosion if his paw hadn't have been injured. Smaug flew in close and used Fire Punch as Zorua released a Shadow Ball causing an explosion. When the dust faded, Zorua was unconscious and Smaug looked a bit bruised though no worse for wear. The announcer shouted, "And Valkyrie Potter-Black has made it into the semi-finals with that win thanks to her Charizard Smaug!"

Zaria returned Zorua as Vali did the same with Smaug. Zaria smiled sadly, "Well it looks like we lost this one, but I'm glad that we managed to make it this far. And seen just how much more training we need to do before facing you again, my friend."

"Thank you for the good battle, Zaria," Vali replied with a grin, "It was a pleasure and really fun. I look forward to our future matches,"

"Agreed," Zaria replied and they both turned away as the crowed cheered their names at the show of good-sportsmanship.